Low crop prices drag farm towns down with them

When farmers in the small farming town of Hallock, Minnesota have a bad year, as they have a few years in a row now, pretty much all the businesses in town suffer, including the grocery store.  “Look at the name of the store: Farmer's Store,” said Tom Swanson, the store's owner. “It was built by farmers to begin with. When the farmers have money in their pockets, everyone has money in their pockets around here.”  A few years ago, wheat, a big crop in these parts, sold for as much as $13 a bushel. Now it's closer to $4. Corn and soybeans have also tumbled.  Those changes have spelled trouble for Theresia Gillie, who’s been farming for 30 years. She’s one of the locals spending less money at the Farmer's Store.   Last year, Gillie and her husband lost $250,000 on their farm as crop prices plunged. They had to restructure several loans. Gillie said their time frame for paying off debts is now much longer. "Walking out of the debt I had planned for another three or four years from now is now 10 years down the road," said Gillie. "And it hurts."