The beauty of the current system is that because everyone has been told they are free, it is their own fault when they get trapped in a debt cycle.

Thus their own moral sense is the jailor.

If the farmer has a shit year, the lender has a variety of options for recourse. Including dispossessing the farmer of land. Historically there were other options like selling one's family. You could castrate yourself and hope to God you'll be accepted into court. Debtor's prison I imagine is also a probable consequence. This is doubly offensive when we consider interest, which can often result in multiples of the initial investment, and that many large scale first world lenders have developed world and the IMF backing them basically indicating they're not allowed default.

Hard to say with the information provided, but it seems typical of the trend.