Problems Faced By Farmers In The 1930's Essay

532 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Economic impacts of agricultural revolution

In the 1930’s, farmers were faced with many problems. With snowballing railroad rates for shipment and the falling prices of crops, farming families were really struggling. This struggle was later to be known as the start of the Great Depression. The Joad family, as well as many other farmers were attacked by the industrial revolution, and the jump in technology. The land was being cleared for cities. Similarly, prices are increasing in order to accommodate higher incomes and newer technologies. And along the lines of the farmers, minimum wage workers are left behind in the dust. The strikes popping up in the cities are as symbolic as the western migrations of farmers. They are the solutions of the many economic hardships. The Joad family is met with persecution and resentment from servicemen, to land-owners, and even the police. Likewise, many protester are discouraged by large business CEO’s. But in the end the only thing that keeps them going is their family. As stated by …show more content…

With a few number holding all the cards, they are free to increase prices of their goods. New technologies are created in order to increase profit and lower competition. These practices leave the lower class helpless; with prices increasing, the purchasing power of many is drastically reduced. Minimum wage simply isn’t enough to support a family when everything becomes more expensive. Similarly, with large land-owners, small-time farmers are run out of business. The market chooses cheaper mass goods, rather than costly crops. With such a major dip in income, the economy starts to weaken. The Joad’s see this happen to all their neighbors in Oklahoma: large companies forcing small farmers out of their land. But even after they try to escape the dominance in the Midwest, they are met by more wealthy landowners in California. This is the root of all hardships faced by the Joad’s as well as the protestors:

Show More
Related

  • The Effects of Technology, Government Policy, and Economic Conditions on American Agriculture During 1865-1900

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the expanding of railroads country wide, to limiting laws on the goods farmers sold and transportation of the goods,to starvation of the economy, agriculture began to take its own shape from 1865 through to 1900 in the United States.

    Read More

  • Changes in America's Agriculture From 1865-1900

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the civil war, America found itself with a high production rate, resulting in overproduction and falling of prices, as well as an increase on economic stress and the beginning of panic and prosperity cycles. The wars demand for products had called for a more efficient production system; therefore new machinery had come into place. New tools, such as the reaper, shown in document D, the wheat harvest of 1880, were introduced and facilitated production for farmers, making overproduction more probable. Variation on prices than begun to occur as shown in document A, Agriculture prices in 1865-1900, where a greater amount of goods became available for a more convenient price. This had farmers in distress, for they were losing more money than they were making.

    Read More

  • Farmers of the late 1800's: Changing the Shape of American Politics

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    The period between 1870 and 1900 was a time to change politics. The country was for once free from war and was united as one nation. However, as these decades passed by, the American farmer found it harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the cash crop of agriculture, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit. Improvements in transportation allowed larger competitors to sell more easily and more cheaply, making it harder for American yeoman farmers to sell their crops. Finally, years of drought in the Midwest and the fall of business in the 1890s devastated the farming community. Most notably, the Populist Party arose to fight what farmers saw as the issues affecting the agricultural community. During the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw railroads and banking enterprises threaten their way of life; their work to fight these elements eventually led to a change in national politics.

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Industrial Farming By Bill Mckibben And Blake Hurst

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reading McKibben and Hurst’s articles in the book Food Matters, both authors present arguments on “industrial farming”, and although Hurst provides a realistic sense on farming, McKibben’s suggestions should be what we think about.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Regulator Movement

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the same time, the local agricultural economy was experiencing a deep economic depression due to the severe droughs that had occured throughout the past decade. The loss of crops cut out the average farmers'/planters' main food source as well a...

    Read More

  • Key Factors Of The Dust Bowl

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    The country at the time was in the deepest and soon to be longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world and this caused years of over-cultivation of wheat, because “during the laissez-faire, expansionist 1920’s the plains were extensively and put to wheat - turned into highly mechanized factory farms that produced highly unprecedented harvests” (Worster 12). ¬The farmer’s actions were prompted by the economic decline America was facing. With the economy in a recession, farmers were looking for a way to make a living and in 1930 wheat crop were becoming very popular. In 1931 the wheat crop was considered a bumper crop with over twelve million bushels of wheat. Wheat was emerging all over the plains. The wheat supply forced the price down from sixty-eight cents/bushel in July 1930 to twenty-five cents/bushel in July 1931. Many farmers went broke and others abandoned their fields, but most decided to stay despite the unfavorable

    Read More

  • Farmers and the New Deal

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    The farmers of the Great Depression did benefit from “New Deal”. The New Deal was mainly focused one them and the government tried many ways and started many organizations to help them from being taken advantage of like they had been in previous years.

    Read More

  • Immigrant Farmers In The 1800's Essay

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the late 1800’s, the United States was undergoing major change. Reconstruction was occurring in the southern states, and sizeable groups were migrating westward away from the large, eastern cities and homesteading on new western lands. This migration caused many new states to appear in the next 50 years. Like the history of most states, Minnesota’s history is not an easy one to tell. Although it is complex, Minnesotans have a major group of people to thank for the creation of their state. The massive set of immigrants who would play a huge role in the formation of Minnesota arrived in the late 1800’s after millions of acres of land west of the Mississippi was acquired by the United States government (Early Settlement). These immigrants

    Read More

  • family pressure in great depression

    719 Words  | 2 Pages

    Family pressure during the great depression was unlike any the U.S. has ever seen. Everything about families changed in the 1930s. Couples during the depression delayed marriage, and at the same time the divorce rates dropped because people could not afford to pay for two households. Birthrates also dropped and for the first time in American history below the replacement level. Income was closed to none in all families; regular income had dropped by 35% just in the years Hoover was in office. Families had a lot of stress; some pulled together and made do with what they had others pushed away. People turned to who ever they had, family, friends, and after all else the government. Although there were rich people in the depression as well that the depression did not effect at all who were oblivious to the people suffering around them. By Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration the unemployment rate was up to 25% only increasing till the 1940s. Within families the role played changed as well. Women and children were now working to put bread on the table. Fathers would despise sons for becoming the main source of income for a family. Unemployed men had a deep lack of self respect. That often led them to running away from there families forever. Because many men ran out or stopped caring the women’s role was enhanced and became working women. Black women found it easier to find work a servants, clerks, textiles, workers, ect. Work made all women’s status go up in their homes. Most mi...

    Read More

  • The Roaring Twenties in Colorado

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Roaring Twenties approached and the citizens in Colorado were facing rough times. In 1920, many people such as farm owners, manufacturers, and even miners were having a hard time making a living due to an economic downfall. The farmers especially, where facing the toughest of times. The price of various farm-grown goods like wheat, sugar beets, and even cattle was dropping because their goods were no longer needed by the public. Wheat had dropped in price from $2.02 in 1918 to $0.76 by the time 1921 came around. Sadly, the land that they were using to grow wheat became dry and many farmers had to learn to grow through “dryland farming” which became very popular in the eastern plains from 1910 to 1930 (Hard Times: 1920 - 1940). Apple trees began to die due to the lack of desire for apples, poor land, and decreased prices. Over the course of World War I, the prices of farm goods began to increase slowly. Farmers were not the only one facing this economic hardship while others in big cities were enjoying the Roaring Twenties.

    Read More

  • The Farmer's Movement of the Late 19th Century

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the late nineteenth century, the agrarian movement evolved into a political force that energized American farmers to voice their political and economic grievances like never before. Although the movement essentially died after William Jennings Bryan's loss of the 1896 Presidential election, many of the reforms they fought for were eventually passed into law.

    Read More

  • Farming during the late nineteenth century

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    Farmers everywhere in the United States during the late nineteenth century had valid reasons to complaint against the economy because the farmers were constantly being taken advantage of by the railroad companies and banks. All farmers faced similar problems and for one thing, farmers were starting to become a minority within the American society. In the late nineteenth century, industrialization was in the spotlight creating big businesses and capitals. The success of industrialization put agriculture and farmers on the down low, allowing the corporations to overtake the farmers. Since the government itself; such as the Republican Party was also pro-business during this time, they could have cared less about the farmers.

    Read More

  • Hope and Endurance in The Grapes of Wrath

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression was brought about through various radical economic practices and greatly affected the common man of America. Although all Americans were faced with the same fiscal disparity, a small minority began to exploit those in distress. Along the trek westward from Oklahoma, the Joad family met a grand multitude of adversity. However, this adversity was counteracted with a significant amount of endurance exhibited by the Joads and by generalized citizens of America.

    Read More

  • How Did Overproduction Cause The Great Depression

    370 Words  | 1 Pages

    In document 4, a chart is shown of the U.S unemployment rates from 1926-1945. This chart shows how as farmer unemployment got worse, so did the non-farmers. In the 1920’s workers who worked in the city had more opportunities to find jobs unlike farmers who kept a more basic, traditional lifestyle. If farmers who produce food for factories couldn’t anymore, that meant workers would be laid off in the city and factories would shut down forever.

    Read More

  • Essay On Factory Farming

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cruelty toward animals, huge economic problems, and major health concerns are just three reasons why factory farming should be banned worldwide. Many people argue that factory farming is the only way to meet growing demands for food in the world today. However, factory farming is just not necessary, especially when it comes down to killing innocent animals in order to feed people. A way to put an end to the factory farming system is by buying our food from smaller, sustainable farms. These businesses still aim to profit from their labor, but that’s not their only objective. (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.) They simply will not sacrifice the health of the land or the quality of food simply to make a few extra dollars.

    Read More

More about Problems Faced By Farmers In The 1930's Essay

Open Document