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©1990 Richard Cartwright Austin
Because Redemption County was somewhat hilly and thus less well suited to farm
consolidation than other counties in the region, the credit crisis had not struck
here as swiftly. Nevertheless, for a decade farm credit banks and insurance
companies had been foreclosing larger farms. More recently, the county office of
the Farmers' Home Administration began a broad foreclosure campaign against
smaller farmers who had dropped behind on mortgage payments. Passage of the North
American Free Trade Agreement and an expanded "GATT" treaty on world trade, had
made it clear that the Clinton administration would continue Republican policies
to reduce agricultural trade restrictions and farm protections, opening world
markets for the benefit of large producers. Redemption County would probably
compete poorly, but even if farms here were consolidated further and devoted to
export commodities, the result would be continued declines in population,
economic vitality, and local culture, coupled with intensified abuse of the land.
The new plan required a great deal of money, for at the beginning the Covenant
Community Trust, as it was called, needed to raise the capital for land reform
without access to governmental tax receipts. The three leaders enlisted the
participation of several Christian denominations, and then two large
philanthropic foundations that supported agricultural policy research agreed to
provide major funding if large tracts of land and other properties could be
assembled. Another breakthrough came when the president of an insurance company
took personal interest in the project. He arranged a land swap among several
banks and insurers who together held about a fifth of the county's property in
foreclosures, so substantial acreage could be optioned to the trust.
Meanwhile, the organizers led intense and often heated discussions across
Redemption County. The plan offered immediate relief to farmers who were
overwhelmed by debt and promised economic growth for which the county had longed,
but the proposal was unconditional and unfamiliar, and it would encourage an
influx of people of uncertain race and background. After many local church
congregations voted to support the plan and welcome new people, and the trustees
of both colleges agreed to direct their educational programs to the effort, the
county Board of Supervisors also resolved to cooperate.
These were the goals of the Covenant Community, as it came to be called:
* To make land and shelter available to those who need them at a price they
can afford
* To modify traditional property rights on these lands in the interest of
environmental integrity
* To provide training in new farming techniques and other necessary trades
* To establish networks of neighborhood support and economic discipline based
upon voluntary commitment rather than collective ownership or the pressure of
debt
* To give preferential incentives for trade and exchange within the community
in order to build a county economy with some self-sufficiency and a culture with
some resiliency
* To inspire the spread of such values in American society
The pages that follow explain how these goals were pursued.
Baptized into Wilderness
| Hope for the Land
| Beauty of the Lord
Reclaiming America
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