FCS Financial: One Hundred Years July 2016 | Page 67

Gary Wrye describes the agricultural crisis of the 1980s as “a
perfect storm” that started with farmers overextending themselves
in the previous decade. “There was no crop insurance; there was no
safety net. You were out there on your own. The combination of over
spending, high interest rates, no safety net, and then you throw in a
couple of droughts and it created a real bad situation,” Gary said. “It
fed on itself. Some folks lost their farms and as those farms got put on
the market for sale, the price of land started plummeting. It was just a
combination of things that created a real bad situation.”
Daryl Oldvader also pointed to the impact of skyrocketing
interest rates. When the prime rate went over 20 percent, Farm Credit
System’s rate went as high as 17 percent. “It was virtually economically
impossible for a farmer who had a very high debt position to survive.
When you’re paying one third or more of your total farm expenses in
interest, it’s just very difficult,” Daryl said. “We saw foreclosures that we
never thought we’d see. My hat’s off to the farmers and those that serve
them who made it through all that. It was a very difficult time.”

The PCA Conference for employees in 1981. Front row: Pam Ballard, Pam
Crawford, Joyce Borgmeyer, Kris Kunze, Dorothy Kremer. Back row: Pat Kloeppel,
Wanda Borman, Jan Priesendorf, Peggy Moon, Roy Pittrich, Mickey Shipp, Mary
Wiswall, Verna Koechner, Lola Mae Pittrich, Carol Shipp, Marie Luebbering.

The Perfect Storm

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