Minnesota Farm Advocate Oral History Project: Interview with Connie Dykes

Titles: Minnesota Farm Advocate Oral History Project: Interview with Connie Dykes (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Connie Dykes and her husband, Virgil, have been farming at their present location since 1972. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: In 1978 they mortgaged the land to the Travellers Insurance Company. Farm prices were low and interest rates very high then and for the next several years. In 1979 they sought a loan from FmHA(Farmers' Home Administration), and it was granted only on the condition that they would agree to a large loan and to a major expansion of their operation. They lost money over the following years of low farm prices and high interest rates. In 1983 they filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and in 1985 they were forced to sell everything. They are now living on and renting the farm from Travellers. Connie describes their relationships with the lenders and tactics of lenders, as well as their deteriorating treatment by local businesses and their fellow farmers during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Dykes and other farmers attended meetings organized by COACT to help farmers with financial problems. Then, in 1984, they attended the meeting at the Department of Agriculture for the formation of the Farm Advocates. Virgil became an Advocate for a time, and Connie is still an Advocate. Her approach to Farm Advocacy is, initially, to lend clients personal support and then to see to it that they know their rights. Relative to changing the Advocates organization, she feels that more could be done to contact people in need. Dykes also believes that the pressures of the farm crisis are leading to poor soil conservation practices, resulting in the loss of much good land.

Dates

• 05/11/1988 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Dykes, Connie
• interviewer: Hunter, Dianna
• interviewer: Meter, Ken

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 37
• Accession Number: AV1991.158.7

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota Farm Advocate Oral History Project' <OH 37>

Quantity: 1.5 hours sound cassette 26 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Subjects

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