The main cause of the end of the populist movement was the split in the populist ranks between those who wanted to remain independent and the so-called fusionists, who wanted to merge the Populist Party with the Democrats. The populist movement and Populist Party arose from farmer's groups that developed in the 1880s. Farmers in this period were feeling increasingly pummeled by economic factors, including climate-related crop failures and the power of the railroads to set very high fees to move their crops to market.