Government Project tells the story of an attempt by the
US government to remake the lives of some of its citizens by establishing a cooperative
farm in Pinal County, Arizona, in 1937. These individuals were among the most
desperately poor and disadvantaged in the nation.
Casa Grande Valley Farms was an elaborate venture that provided
the Americans who volunteered to settle there with housing, work, and the
opportunity to earn income. For five years, the farm succeeded. The revenues
from the sale of its crops gave the Casa Grande settlers material comfort and
wealth far beyond what they had ever possessed.
But in the farm's seventh year of operation, the inhabitants
shuttered it and walked away with hardly anything, to the shock and dismay of
the government officials overseeing it.
Government Project explains what went wrong at Casa
Grande. In telling this story, it illuminates larger truths about human nature
and the limits of governance.
