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The global economy creates opportunities and hardships. With technological advances in agriculture, the marketplace is highly competitive and favors high/volume, low/cost producers. This economic reality along with favorable growing conditions worldwide for the past few years has resulted in many basic food surpluses and consequently low prices.

Here is a lender's response to a column about a farmer's perspective on bankruptcy and foreclosure fights.

As a 23 year Ag Loan Officer I found the article on the Successful Farmer to be vindictive and demeaning to all Ag Loan people in banks. Please allow me to give you a perspective from an Ag Loan Officer.

I received another hard hitting response to the column I wrote which featured a farmer's account of his foreclosure by a lending institution.

I swear I woke up and it was 1985 when I read your article, "Avoid Foreclosure At All Costs."

Why is farming different from any other profession? Why do farmers have a harder time adjusting to the loss of their occupation more than others who are given a pick slip or lose a business?

I received a story from a successful farmer who was forced out of agriculture in 1998. He had many insights about the emotional and legal aspects of his battle with his lending institution. He titles his unpublished manuscript, "Final Harvest." This column contains excerpts from Chapter Five, "Don't do it, and why not."