However free electricity and no tax on agricultural income have kept the farming community going.
Further problems were the lower rents and lower demands for food, both of which cut into agricultural income.
The biggest share of agricultural income these days, about $180 million at last count, in 1985, is growing.
Food prices fell nearly 50%, while agricultural incomes rose.
The agricultural income occupies 30% of the county revenue.
Because of intense forests around Çiftehan, the agricultural income is low.
He notes that agricultural incomes rose by an average of 7% in the European Union as a whole from 1995 to 2002.
Guaranteeing agricultural incomes at decent levels is not just an economic issue.
For the second year in a row, the average agricultural income per holding has fallen in the Union.
Dairy farming is the primary source of agricultural income.