The American Farm Bureau Federation was organized on November 12, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois, by Farm Bureau leaders from 34 states. A declaration at the beginning of the convention said, "This country needs the sound, conservative common-sense of the farmers expressed in a collective and organized way." The newly-minted farm organization gave farmers and ranchers a voice and a seat at the table with the powerful economic interests of the day--business, manufacturing, railroads and labor. American Farm Bureau is the national advocate for farm and ranch families through good times and bad in the belief that a more prosperous agriculture contributes to the well-being of all Americans

Author Lee Lancaster retraces the movement of a remarkable time in our nation's agricultural history. In 1976, America sent a peanut farmer from Plains to Washington, D.C. Farmers throughout the nation, especially in Georgia, had high hopes for President Jimmy Carter, but those dreams vanished when he seemingly disregarded their problems--historic drought and embarrassing commodity prices. Peach State farmers took to the streets, slow rolling a tractorcade on I-75 toward Atlanta. The result was the largest ever farmer-led demonstration in the United States. The farmers pledged not to sell, plant or buy anything until "100% parity" was obtained. The farmers eventually steered their tractorcade to D.C., trying to prevent the foreclosure of dozens of farms with help from an armed group in Middle Georgia and a real estate tycoon from New York who would become the forty-fifth president.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1953.