In the early years of the Great Depression, farm and dairy commodity prices, already low, plummeted disastrously and increased hardship for small farmers throughout the Midwest. In May 1932 a small but vocal group of some 3,000 farmers under radical activist and minister Milo Reno formed a protest group in Des Moines, Iowa, and called themselves the Farmer’s Holiday Association (FHA). They took their inspiration from the “bank holidays” that closed banking institutions to prevent runs on their holdings. Reno and his followers declared a “holiday” of their own by refusing to sell or distribute their own goods, thereby hoping to drive up prices and call national attention to their predicament. Reno insisted that farmers had a right to adequate compensation to offset farm costs, as well as to make a reasonable profit from their goods. They also adopted the slogan “Stay at Home—Buy Nothing—Sell Nothing,” but it was not until August 1932 that the FHA began mobilizing at Sioux City, Iowa. Reno and the majority of his followers sought to protest peacefully, but when some of the more militant protestors attempted to block highways to prevent goods from going to market, battles with the police resulted. Events climaxed at a major demonstration in Sioux City, when one farmer was killed and several were wounded by gunfire. Consequently, Reno called a halt to strike activity as of September 1, 1932.
While the FHA had garnered national press coverage, it had failed in its efforts to affect prices through strikes, so that fall Reno switched objectives. On October 26, 1932, he declared a moratorium on tax and mortgage payments to forestall farm foreclosures. FHA members used intimidation at foreclosure auctions to discourage outside buyers. They would then purchase the farm for a penny and return it to the original owner. Their protests and other actions did have the effect of inducing midwestern state legislatures to pass moratoriums on foreclosures and prevent further outbreaks of violence. As part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the federal government enacted the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which regulated agriculture in order to raise prices. Reno, whose charismatic leadership kept the FHA together in these hard times, died on May 5, 1936, and the organization never regrouped around another leader. The dispersal of government checks by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration reduced farmers’ discontent. The FHA was ultimately absorbed by the Iowa Farmer’s Union in 1937.
Further reading: Everett A. Luoma, The Farmer Takes a Holiday: The Story of the National Farmer's Holiday Association and the Farmer's Strike of 1932-1933 (New York: Exposition Press, 1967); John L. Shover, Cornbelt Rebellion: The Farmers’ Holiday Association (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1965).
—John C. Fredriksen