Government Project

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