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Being an American farmer in the late 19th century
American farmers in 1900
Farming in 1865-1900
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Recommended: Being an American farmer in the late 19th century
Hard Times’ ‘The Dirty 30s’ ‘The Great Depression’ (Ganzel n. pag.)This quote describes so much about 1930’s especially farming. Farming was hard because there was a really bad drought. Was out they rain no crops could grow. And the crops can't hold the soil together and not blow away. Which was really bad for the soil to blow away. Also the farmers didn't know that the equipment they were using would tear up the soil too much and it would blow away. The farming in the 1930s was bad because of the dust bowl and the price of everything was low.
Farm life of the 1930s was really hard for all the farmers. They did lots to get through the 1930s without starving. In York county they didn’t indoor bathrooms, light or, heat unlike the people who lived in the towns of the 1930s.(Reinhardt n. pag.) to feed there family’s many raised their own food like chicken which gave them eggs, cows which also gave them beef and milk to drink. They grew vegetables for there from there garden. (Reinhardt n. pag.)Which families didn’t do it alone they had help from there neighbors to help them along the way.
Neighbors helped people along the way. Neighbors were very important during this time because if someone got sick or an accident happened there was someone to help them with it. (Reinhardt n. pag.) For school programs, church dinners, or dances families and neighbors came together. (Reinhardt n. pag.)
There were many ways the people spent their time. They did lots of things like going to the movies, playing board games, or listening to the radio all for free.(Reinhardt n. pag.) in 1940 rain was better and the federal government programs had electricity going to the house to make life a lot easier (Reinhardt n. pag.)
Can’t talk about farming witho...
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...Bowl” History. history channel 24 August, 2012. Web. 21 nov 2013 http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-dust-bowl
Reinhardt, Claudia and Ganzel,Bill. “farming in the 1930s” 1930s farm life. the Ganzel Group, 2003 Web. 21 nov. 2013 http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_01.html
Ganzel,Bill “farming in the 1930s” Wessels living history farms. 2003. Web. 19 Nov. 2013 http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/farminginthe1930s.html
Klein,Christopher. “10 Things You May Not Know About the Dust Bowl” History. history channel 24 August, 2012. Web. 21 nov 2013 http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-dust-bowl
Reinhardt, Claudia and Ganzel,Bill. “farming in the 1930s” 1930s farm life. the Ganzel Group, 2003 Web. 21 nov. 2013 http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_01.html
The period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American Politics. The country was finally free of the threat of war, and many of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the sustenance of the agriculture industry, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Mother Nature was also showing no mercy with grasshoppers, floods, and major droughts that led to a downward spiral of business that devastated many of the nation’s farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, numerous farms groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what the farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture. During the final twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the loss in value of silver as threats to their way of life, all of which could be recognized as valid complaints.
The Dust Bowl also known as the “Dirty Thirties” was the one of the worst disasters in the environment. It was a century long from 1931 to 1939. It lead the depression into bad circumstances than what it already was in.
"Paying Farmers to Not Irrigate." Farming from 1970’s to today. Wessels Living History Farm, 2009. Web. 07 May 2015.
Ganzel, Bill. "The Dust Bowl of the 1930s." Farming in the 1930s. The Wessels Living History Farm, 2003. Web. 26 Feb. 2011.
Students are always taught about slavery, segregation, war, and immigration, but one of the least common topics is farm women in the 1930’s. Lou Ann Jones, author of Mama Learned Us to Work, portrayed a very clear and clean image to her readers as to what the forgotten farm-women during the 1930’s looked like. This book was very personal to me, as I have long listened to stories from my grandmother who vividly remembers times like these mentioned by Jones. In her book Mama Learned Us to Work, author Lou Ann Jones proves that farm women were a major part of Southern economy throughout the content by the ideology and existence of peddlers, the chicken business, and linen production.
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.
The 1920s were known as carefree and relaxed. The decade after the war was one of improvement for many Americans. Industries were still standing in America. They were actually richer and more powerful than before World War I. So what was so different in the 1930’s?
...ne farmer in the U.S. (“Historical” 76).With a 25 ft self propelled combine, a few trucks, a tractor, a 30 ft drill, and a 35 ft sweep disk it took 3hrs of labor to make 1000 bushels, 3 acres, of wheat. To produce 100 bush of corn , 1 ⅛ acres with a 12 ft combine, a few trucks, a tractor, a 20ft sprayer, a planter, a 20 ft tandem disk, and a 5-btm plow it took 2 ¾ hours of labor in 1987 (“Historical” 78). By 1990 100 people were taken care of by one farmer in the U.S. (“Historical” 80). More and more information technology and precision techniques were being used in agriculture production in the 1990s (“Historical” 81). In 1994 satellite technology was introduced and used on farms more and more. Also the use of low-tillage techniques kept rising (“Historical” 82). In 1997 the first crops that were resistant to weeds and insects was introduced (“Historical” 83).
During World War One farmers worked hard to keep their pockets full, but when prices fell it got tougher to pay off debt, and household expenses. Prices dropped so low in the 1930’s many had to file bankruptcy or close their farm. The price of corn fell so much that a bushel was only worth around ten cents. Families couldn’t even afford to fill their fires with coal anymore. Coal was replaced by corn, and it was not uncommon for the countryside to have a popcorn stench.
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.
In the 1930’s, many farmers faced a lot of hardship. The drought and the depression forced farmers to sell land and move out of the area. Many farmers lost all of their crops and everything that they worked for their entire life. Farmers seem to face some many issues that affected many of the farming issues that affected them greatly. There was a lot happening that affected the farmers in the time era.
Mom began to smile and gave Glenda a shake of her head. John said, “It’s important to remember that sharecroppers weren’t needed during the Great Depression because tractors and combines could work cheaper.” And John went on to say that the tenant farmer went the way of the cowboy when corporations fenced their ranches in the 1890s.
3. Hedrick U. P. (1950). History of Horticulture in America to 1860. New York: Oxford University Press.
Thompson, Paul B. and Stout, Bill A. Beyond The Large Farm. Westview Press, Inc.: Colorado 1991
--- "Rethinking the Role of Agriculture in the Future of Rural Communities" 25, January 2002. October 4, 2002. <http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/JIkerd/papers/YaleRural%20Studies.html>.