How Is Farm Financial Stress Affecting Rural America?

Recent farm financial stress has hit the Midwest the hardest because farming there is specialized and the Midwest's overall economy has not rebounded from the 1980-82 recessions. Though the number of farmers working off the farm is growing nationally, more plentiful nonfarm jobs in the Northeast and South have helped offset farmers' financial stress. Economically diversified and densely settled areas with younger residents have fared best, while heavily farming-dependent areas have fared worst and lost population. This report contains indepth comparisons of rural America's current economic health by region and by reliance on farming.