Excerpt from | Oral History Interview with Bobby Kirk, October 28, 1985. Interview K-0013. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) |
Kirk describes the economic crisis that farmers are facing at the time of the interview. He describes farmers as gamblers who wager thousands of dollars on a crop that any number of factors, including luck, could destroy. Kirk sees farmers entering a cycle of debt, perennially borrowing against their hopes for future yields. Farming's vulnerability, and the unique characteristics demanded by the job, make it a particularly fragile occupation.