Failed Crops

once upon a time, not to long ago, there was a small town that was like a storybook village. In this town, there were not alot of people, and the way of life was simple, and not so busy as that of the city. Most of the people in this town had fields, and they were proud of these fields. In fact, many people moved to this small town because of the land. The land turned out good crops, and the farmers were proud of what they sowed. This town was a proud town, and was very good about supporting their own, so most of the farmers went to the local supply store for their fertilzer for their farms. Now this store was held in fairly high regard by people all around the area. It was good to the people, and it sold good fertilzer and materials needed for succesful crops. The store, Supreme-Crops, Saving-Dollars had been around since the town was started, and generations used the store for thier farming needs. And season after season, the locals went to their local market, SCSD for all their supplies. And life was good.
But their came a time when the farmers began noticing their crops just werent up to par. Since the ground was still fertile, and the seeds were planted perfectly, they realized that the fertilzer that SCSD was selling just wasnt the same. they werent getting the quality they expected. At the same time, SCSD was hiring more and more fertilizer experts, and their expertise was proven by the papers tacked to the wall. When the farmers tried to talk to the managers of SCSD about the fertilzer that was getting worse each season, and thier crops that were not doing so well, they were told "these guys are the best. they have papers that show us they understand fertilzer. We pay alot for our fertilzer experts". And the farmers were sent back to their crops, to do what they could to try and help them get ready for harvest, bad fertilizer or not. And so it went. Each year, the crops struggled, some farmers had good product, some didnt. Even the good ones though did not hold up well when compared to crops from other areas, and the lack of quality showed. Due to their location and the fact that they were farmers, many of them could not shop for their fertilzer at other locations. So they were stuck. They tried again to talk to their manure salesmen, but were surprised to find a sign on the door that said "our manure experts work so hard, they have gone home early. Come back another time".
After a particulary rough couple of years on the farmers incomes due to what was known as the "great recession", and just as their nations president was pulling them out of very dark period of little prosperity, SCSD threw a huge bombshell at the farmers. they informed them that the manure they desparatly needed for their crops was increasing in price. All of the sales managers, and assistants to the sales managers, and drivers of the manure, the manure administrators began crying to the farmers that they would lose the quality of manure if they did not pay a higher price. "what quality?" the farmers asked. the manure managers then pulled out their fancy papers that showed they were experts and said "look! See how qualified we are!". Again, the farmers asked "what quality". Beginning to panic, the managers then said, "if you dont pay extra, SCSD will have to stop some things. We wont deliver to your fields anymore. We wont be able to offer the tools to spread manure. If we are sick, we wont be able to have a relief manure salesman help you. We may have to close our store down if you dont pay more. But look at our papers, we are experts at selling manure". The farmers couldnt pay more for their manure that wasnt getting the results they expected, and so they told the people at SCSD this. The sales people then said "everyone around you pays a higher price for their fertilzer than you do. you should have to pay too. What you dont understand is for years our government has given us so much money for our fertilzer, we were rolling in manure money, which allowed us to sell it to you at a cheaper price. They gave us so much money in fact, we threw it at our salespeople and our showroom, but now realize we should have planned better. But, now we have so many high paid experts (look at their fancy papers!), and so many luxuries for our store, that we need you to help more financially to pay for all of this" the farmers stood by in disbelief as they were handed their bills for their manure that they knew was not good, but they were stuck with anyway.

February 14 folks. Time to decide if we want to continue paying for the same manure, or if we want to force the adminstrators to find better quality with the money they currently are collecting.