More than 30 percent of farm households in the Mississippi-Tennessee Sand-Clay Hills in 1980 and in southwestern Wisconsin in 1982 had insufficient income to cover minimum family living expenses, cash farm operating costs, capital replacement, and principal payments on debt. This report analyzes farm household viability in the two regions and evaluates both public and private options for easing financial stress. These options include economic development efforts to increase nonfarm job opportunities, educational programs directed toward increased farm profitability, and programs that make more credit available or make existing credit less expensive for some farmers.