Tell me about "the 80's"

[picassomcp]

I have often heard people reference the 80's as the farm crisis. Often times inflation is also referred to when talking about the 80's. Could someone explain to me exactly what happened prior to, and during this time frame?

Also, do you think a time like the 80's could happen again? Are we nearing a time like this right now with the inflation that we have seen the past few years?

Just wondering what a person could do to prepare themselves for times like this if that is what might be in our near future. I am in my mid 40's and wanting to purchase land to expand, but am a bit hesitant as I hear more and more reference to "the 80's"

 

[Mule Meat]

In a nut shell.
Banks, lending institutions and the powers that be all got together. They convinced Joe farmer that he needed more land and bigger better equipment. The banks, lending institution and the powers that be let Joe know that they were more than happy to loan massive amount of money to him.. Joe took the bait hook, line and sinker.. The market got flooded with product, recession hit and the bottom fell out of the price for the products.

When the time came to pay the piper. Joe didn't have the money to even pay the interest let alone pay on the principal of the loans he took out. And just like the song says. The Farmers bank foreclosed.

 

[paul]

Watching for Politics.

We really can’t discuss anything on the internet any more can we? Everything is so filtered it seems pointless to try. The fella wants to learn what happened, and w$ are threatened right away. Don’t say anything important!!!!

 

[Fixingfarmer]

Well the 70s were booming and even into 1980 life was good that’s when our 4440 was built I believe at least that’s what the main bearings were date stamped.

At my place now there’s a cement bin pad including a dryer fan pad. 1980 is written on it. Bin was supposed to go up the following fall they couldn’t get the steel to do it they were selling them so fast. The owner at the time went belly up next fall I’m told bin never got put on the pad. Being there was power already to it it has had a swimming pool and a chicken coop on it over the years but until i anchored a hopper bun to it for the chickens it never had a bin. No holes from concrete anchors. Life changed rapidly for a lot of people I know my family just barely made it. Grandpa and dad cut the cattle herd to a 3rd what it was and said they sold all that beef and felt guilty spending the money buying a burger at the sale barn on the way home. I’m glad I wasn’t around yet

 

[neverfear]

I have often heard people reference the 80's as the farm crisis. Often times inflation is also referred to when talking about the 80's. Could someone explain to me exactly what happened prior to, and during this time frame?

Also, do you think a time like the 80's could happen again? Are we nearing a time like this right now with the inflation that we have seen the past few years?

Just wondering what a person could do to prepare themselves for times like this if that is what might be in our near future. I am in my mid 40's and wanting to purchase land to expand, but am a bit hesitant as I hear more and more reference to "the 80's"

I worked for three farmers during those years. They and their wives all had off the farm jobs just to make ends meet.

 

[cuby]

In a nut shell.
Banks, lending institutions and the powers that be all got together. They convinced Joe farmer that he needed more land and bigger better equipment. The banks, lending institution and the powers that be let Joe know that they were more than happy to loan massive amount of money to him.. Joe took the bait hook, line and sinker.. The market got flooded with product, recession hit and the bottom fell out of the price for the products.

When the time came to pay the piper. Joe didn't have the money to even pay the interest let alone pay on the principal of the loans he took out. And just like the song says. The Farmers bank foreclosed.

If you were financially fit , had some cash laying around, you could buy c ds and get a return up to 15 percent maybe more.

 

[Buckhammer]

I have often heard people reference the 80's as the farm crisis. Often times inflation is also referred to when talking about the 80's. Could someone explain to me exactly what happened prior to, and during this time frame?

Also, do you think a time like the 80's could happen again? Are we nearing a time like this right now with the inflation that we have seen the past few years?

Just wondering what a person could do to prepare themselves for times like this if that is what might be in our near future. I am in my mid 40's and wanting to purchase land to expand, but am a bit hesitant as I hear more and more reference to "the

If you are interested in what happened in the 80's i would google it or visit youtube. I would also suggest visiting AgTalk.com and viewing the Market Forum. You are more freely allowed to talk over there without reprimand. As with any forum not everyone knows what they are talking about but there is a wealth of knowledge as it relates to farming on that site.

 

[Mule Meat]

We really can’t discuss anything on the internet any more can we? Everything is so filtered it seems pointless to try. The fella wants to learn what happened, and w$ are threatened right away. Don’t say anything important!!!!

Who was threatened?

 

[neverfear]

Who was threatened?

Moderator gave his usual warning then took his comments down.

 

[kb46852]

Who was threatened?

Nobody was threatened. No political comments of any kind on YT.

 

[SweetFeet]

I have often heard people reference the 80's as the farm crisis. Often times inflation is also referred to when talking about the 80's. Could someone explain to me exactly what happened prior to, and during this time frame?

Also, do you think a time like the 80's could happen again? Are we nearing a time like this right now with the inflation that we have seen the past few years?

Just wondering what a person could do to prepare themselves for times like this if that is what might be in our near future. I am in my mid 40's and wanting to purchase land to expand, but am a bit hesitant as I hear more and more reference to "the 80's"

For sure it can happen again.

 

[VicS]

My comment was exactly what happened. Not a political hate. So you won't hear from me again.

 

[kb46852]

My comment was exactly what happened. Not a political hate. So you won't hear from me again.

Ok. The rules clearly state: No political comments, hate speech or bigotry of any kind will be tolerated. Violations will be removed and posting privileges may be permanently revoked without notice.

 

[Goose]

What happened? In the late 1970s and early '80s I raised hogs on the side. As someone else said, banks went nuts with relaxed lending requirements. A loan officer at my bank gave me a stack of blank open notes and told me any time I needed money to fill one out for the amount and drop it in the night deposit box.

I kept it pretty well under control, but there were many farmers who were given the same privilege who didn't and overextended themselves. Interest rates soared to 12-15 percent. It all came to a head in the mid 1980s, and a lot of farmers didn't survive. Every weekend you could go to a foreclosure auction and buy farm machinery for 50 cents on the dollar or less.

By then, I owned an auto body shop and used car lot, and was farming a quarter section on the side.. The shop held its own, but I was paying 14 percent interest on my used vehicle inventory. You have to turn a vehicle over awful fast for a good margin to pay that kind of interest and still make a profit. In 1988 I just got tired of it all. A dry summer stunted my crops on the farm and an early killing frost got what the drouth didn't. I shut the shop and lot down, leased out the farm, and went to work for the local Ford dealer as a salesman. Two weeks later, I fell into being Service Manager through no effort on my part. Life went on.

That's a synopsis of my take on it.

 

[old]

I have often heard people reference the 80's as the farm crisis. Often times inflation is also referred to when talking about the 80's. Could someone explain to me exactly what happened prior to, and during this time frame?

Also, do you think a time like the 80's could happen again? Are we nearing a time like this right now with the inflation that we have seen the past few years?

Just wondering what a person could do to prepare themselves for times like this if that is what might be in our near future. I am in my mid 40's and wanting to purchase land to expand, but am a bit hesitant as I hear more and more reference to "the 80's"

I got out of the Navy in July of 1980 and a short time later there was trouble in the middle east and we sent some troops in to maybe stop the trouble

 

[Jim in LA]

I liked the 80’s, the first half anyway. I finished vo-tech in the spring of 80, started a job with a 30 school school system that lasted 33 years, I bought my first new vehicle in ‘82. The technology boom was getting into full swing, the music business was exploding with new bands and sounds in all genres. You could earn 15% interest on a CD, you could actually save money in a savings account and earn interest on some checking accounts. The 80’s had great movies and gods tv shows too. I liked the 80s pop culture. My hometown changed for the worse though as did many. The days of Mom and Pop and family run stores had come to an end and the age of corporate management reared its ugly head. The bad business and economic decisions that were made in the late seventies came to bear their rotten fruit in the early-mid eighties and farming communities paid the brunt as well as the industrial belt(goodby steel, textile business).But looking back, that was all on purpose to set the stage for the world we live in today. This is my historical look at the 80’s NOT a political one.

 

[flying belgian]

I have often heard people reference the 80's as the farm crisis. Often times inflation is also referred to when talking about the 80's. Could someone explain to me exactly what happened prior to, and during this time frame?

Also, do you think a time like the 80's could happen again? Are we nearing a time like this right now with the inflation that we have seen the past few years?

Just wondering what a person could do to prepare themselves for times like this if that is what might be in our near future. I am in my mid 40's and wanting to purchase land to expand, but am a bit hesitant as I hear more and more reference to "the 80's"

Pa never borrowed a dime in his life. Bought the farm contract for deed in 1960. Instead of expanding in the 70s when farming was good he paid for the farm. Since he never had a banker he didn't know that banks were borrowing to farmers just for walking in the door. With no interest payments to pay and no payments of any kind he sailed through the 80s with no problem. Him and Mother were taking out bank cd's that paid 15-16% and the money just snowballed. When the neighbor went bankrupt in the 80s they came to Pa to buy the 70 acre farm. Pa had the money in the bank to do it but said he's got all the land he wants. Very few if any small time farmers went broke in the 80s. The ones that went broke were the ones with the attitude,,,look how many acres I'm farming. Look how big my tractors are. Look how many hog barns I have. Look how many cattle I'm milking,,,

 

[casecollectorsc]

If you were financially fit , had some cash laying around, you could buy c ds and get a return up to 15 percent maybe more.

And I paid 21% interest on a tractor loan and 18.5% on a loan at Production Credit Assn a Ag lender. Some of the big farmers here got in trouble with the high interest rates and couldn't service their loans. In December of 86 the PCA sent me a letter to pay my loan in 15 days or they would call a auction...owed about 50K. Couldn't borrow money in that short time so sold the milk cows to pay them off. They needed cash and hit the small solvent guys with threatening letters to get solvent. No love for them to this day...never borrowed again. High interest scared me from buying adjoining land at that time, missed that boat.

 

[rustred]

it was high interest rates ,over 20 percent and very low commodity prices. i sold barley for 97 cents a bushel. right now it is 5.35 / bu. which is still low. farmers go by quantity which helps but it still takes more fertilizer so where does it end. some farmers are getting way over 100 bu. per acre , while back then it was not that high. i nice new 1/2 or 3/4 ton was 10,000 or a bit more , while today they are 100.000 k

 

[Jim in NC]

After reading the comments and I look back it seems to me that there was a very profitable opportunity for any lending institution in the early 80s to loan money at the high interest rates. I believe far too many people borrowed, perhaps excessively because they were convinced that interest rates were only going higher, and they had to do it sooner than later.
Inflation is cruel. Currently I believe we are seeing a similar replay. I believe people are spending excessively because they fear higher prices in their near future. Businesses and consumers alike are drawn into this mess. Picture our economy as a runaway train that no one can or wants to slow down.