To make a long story short, the 1980s saw so much food being produced in the midwest that crop prices plumetted with greatly increased supply. This made farming for all but the largest players inprofitable. As countless people all rushed to sell the family farm at the same time, land prices plummetted as well due to too many properties being offered at the same time. Reagan, being strongly against gov't interference, refused to do anything to help the farmers, although there's probably little he could have done to change the facts on the ground.
A pop culture reference to this event is John Mellencamp's song "Blood on the Scarecrow", which describes the event.
My grandfather is one of the Indiana farmers that Mellencamp describes. Although my grandfather was one of the lucky ones that was able to stay farming until he legitimately retired around ten years ago. Pretty much what happened was farmers were doing such a good job raising their crops that there was too much of it, and prices dropped as a result. He pretty much acknowledged when he retired though that few non-corporate farms can make money farming now.
First, welcome to the forum.
Second, a factor missing in the equation is that many countries through a variety of means, handicap the sales of American food products in their countries to keep their own farmers happy.
Third, please update us on the Unity developments.
