“The McFarthest Place” documents the social, economic, and political mindset of the disappearing rural Midwest through one county in South Dakota. In Perkins County, SD, recently the farthest point in the continental United States from a McDonald’s, a comical metric belies issues of the American divide. People aren’t just 145 miles from McDonald’s but from medical specialists, mental healthcare, affordable groceries, higher education, and jobs. These issues, combined with the consolidation of wealth and opportunity in cities, drive population loss in rural America – 73.7% in Perkins County in 110 years – threatening the community-oriented nature of rural society where people increasingly rely on each other, absent traditional infrastructure. And despite the continuing importance of rural resources to the sustainability of the U.S., people here feel the burden of a national disinterest in the economic sustainability of rural communities as their lives are often reduced to jokes and caricatures, fostering fear, cultural, and political isolation. Even with U.S. economic intervention, incentives, and subsidies, the net median income for a farm or ranch in 2017 was a $1300 loss. These hardships weigh on rural communities, influencing  farmer suicide rates that outpace those of returning veterans.