Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with Dennis Green
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project
Interview # T20-A-L-2022-31
Dennis Green, grain farmer in Lawrence County, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project.
Interview dates & location:
Date: April 22, 2022
Location: Phil Pogue at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Recording Studio and Dennis Green in Lawrence County.
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Philip Pogue, ALPLM volunteer
Total Time: 1:24 / 1.40 hrs.
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on August 3, 2022.
The interview is archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2022 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Abstract
Dennis Green, Tumultuous 2020, T20-A-L-2022-31
Biographical Information Overview of Interview: Dennis Green was born in Lawrenceville, Illinois, in 1952. He grew up on the farm his grandfather started in 1933. Green went to Lawrenceville High School where he played freshmen football and was active in Future Farmers of America. He served as Vice President and President during his junior and senior years, respectively, before graduating in 1970. He attended Vincennes University in Indiana where he studied agriculture in 1972. He attended the University of Illinois for agriculture economics and graduated in 1974. Since then, Green has remained active in the farm community. He serves with the Illinois Corn Growers Association. He has also served as board member for the Illinois Farm Bureau (Director Region 13) and as the president of the Lawrence County Farm Bureau. He served for eighteen years as a school board member for the Lawrence County Community Unit School District Twenty. At the time of the interview, Green’s farm consisted of 548 acres of corn and soybeans.
Throughout the interview, Green examines the challenges presented by COVID-19 to a grain farmer in east central Illinois. Considered an essential worker, Green discusses the normal challenges of farming in lieu of the challenges the pandemic brought about. These include issues with high input costs, broadband weakness, worker shortages, and social isolation. Green also highlights the federal programs that assisted farmers, including paycheck protection, Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, and Economic Injury Disaster Loan. Green shared about the work of the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Corn Growers Association, and the Adopt a Legislator Program. He highlights the way the pandemic impacted livestock, dairy, and poultry farmers, along with packing plants. Green concludes by describing the personal impact of COVID-19.
Subject Headings/Key Words: Lawrence County, Lawrence County, Illinois; grain farming; corn; soybeans; pandemic’s impact of farming; COVID-19; pandemic; COVID-19 pandemic; Dennis Green; Tumultuous 2020; Tumultuous 2020 oral history
8ote to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955