Retrospect: Group met in Jay Co.

Thirty-five years ago this week, local farmers got together to share stories and learn about the Indiana chapter of the Citizen’s Organization Acting Together (COACT).

About 70 local farmers attended the meeting for the new support group chapter, which founded by Jim and Barbara Adams of Hamilton County founded as part of their efforts to deal with their own financial issues. They shared stories of problems in dealing with lending institutions and government agencies.

“If we don’t stand together in unity, we may see the end of the family farm in the Midwest,” Barbara Adams told the group.

She and her husband encouraged local farmers to have a plan of action in case of issues with overdue loans and/or debt during difficult times.

Several local farmers shared their stories about such problems, as did Bob Stoner, a northern Indiana farmer who made a three-hour drive to attend the meeting.

Also in attendance was District 33 Rep. David Hoover (R-Ridgeville), chairman of the House committee on agriculture, who said he would be looking at ways to help farmers during the 1983 session. Among those were ways to penalize lenders who did not cancel liens.

He said one of the challenges, though, was getting legislators to understand the impact of farmers as they at that time represented only 2 to 3 percent of the state’s population.

“When you have only 18 members of the General Assembly (out of 150 members) who have any kind of farm background, that’s what happens,” Hoover said.