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Effects of the dust bowl
Great depression farming crisis
Effects of the dust bowl
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Farming in 1930’s 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. When the drought first began farmers and other workers moved. The drought killed the crops and brought insects. The nature turned against the farmers. All the crops were being destroyed. Farmers could not grow crops for their livestock. There was hybrid corn being made so farmer could grow crops. The drought had drove farmers
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.
Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes .Changes that were a product of influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase on exported goods, do the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads. Moreover they were discontented with the approach that the government had taken towards the situation.
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.
Unfortunately, the circumstances in the Great Plains all came to a head, resulting in a horrific ten years for citizens of the Great Plains. The Dust Bowl caused government and people to look at farming practices and evaluate their output. These policies resulted in overproduction of crops, causing the prices to fall. The conclusion of World War I and countries that stopped importing foods added to the pain the farmers were already feeling.
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.
Some of the direct effects of the droughts were that many of the farmers’ crops were damaged by deficient rainfall, high temperatures, and high winds, as well as insect infestations and dust storms that accompanied these conditions. What essentially happened was that the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” The constant dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The effects of the drought happened so rapidly and progressively over time that there was very little preparation and planning the farmers could do before having to abandon their homes.
Most of the reasons concerning agrarian discontent in the late nineteenth century stem from supposed threats posed by monopolies and trusts, railroads, money shortages and the demonetization of silver, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The American farmer at this time already had his fair share of problems, perhaps even perceived as unfair in regards to the success industrialized businessmen were experiencing. Nevertheless, crops such as cotton and wheat, which were once the staples of an agricultural society, were selling at such low prices that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them, especially since some had invested a great deal of money in modern equipment that would allow them to produce twice as many goods. Furthermore, improvements in transportation allowed foreign competition to emerge, making it harder for American Farmers to not only dispose of surplus crop, but to transport crops period. Finally, years of drought in the Midwest and the degeneration of business in the 1890's devastated many of the nation's farmers, and as a result of this agricultural depression' many farm groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline of agriculture.
Banks began to foreclose on farms and people became homeless. The losses of everything they owned caused people to have no choice. The only way was to leave. They were driven from their land.
During the early 1780’s farmers in Massachusetts were in great crisis because the land and the resources in which they used to start their farming were been taking away by the government. During the 1780’s farmers mainly borrowed money, land and even sometimes equipment they use to work on their farmland. There was great demand for organic crops during these times because of the war, and when the war ended this lead to a relative decrease in the demand for farmers goods which put the farmers in a very though positions because if the demand of their crops weren’t high enough then they wouldn’t be able to pay off their loans and equipment that they had borrowed during the years. Unfortunately the state government demanded taxes and even threaten
“No one had any money. We were all in the same boat (Quoted in Reinhart, Gazel).” Everyone at the end of the 1920s, everyone was thrown into the same class of poverty and lower class. Farmers were hit especially hard because throughout the twenties they were already practically living in a depression of their own. In the thirties there was a man who went from farm to farm in the thirties named Pete Wettach, who would later become known for the photos he took. The Dust Bowl is mostly what people think of when farmers had to deal with in the Depression. They believed that was the only bad weather they had to deal with, however imagine living through not only that, but, blizzards, floods, drought, and many more things. After all, throughout the
In other countries all around the world their problem are different like in jamaica they have been in a drought causing all types of problem for there country. Since when a country goes through drought the people of the land can 't grow food or have enough water to survive on. Because without water no food also animals die and suffer. “...more than 18,000 small farmers have been affected by the extreme drought that has been plaguing the country for months”(brown). Said in Brown 's story there are more than 18,000 farmers that are feeling the affect of the region 's
“For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature (Druyan).” According to Fox, Drought came also be seen as a slow- motion train wreck. We still have a very short time to get the people off safely before the crash. This drought is causing long dry period in regions were rain fall is usually frequent enough. From there this drought is turning to more like a famine because the area in drought is so huge and is causing much conflict for the survival of the people (2011). These areas include Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya.
Agriculture is quite possibly the most important advancement and discovery that humanity has made. It produces the one thing that we need the most: food. It has been around since 9500 BC, and can be the oldest sign of mankind’s acumen and the development and evolving of our minds and creations. Agriculture has been mastered throughout hundreds of years and is one of our most important resources on Earth, along with water and fossil fuels. Although the older farming methods from ancient times seem somewhat mediocre and barbaric, they were very ingenious and advanced for that time period. Over thousands of years, we have improved the way agriculture is used, how land is cultivated, the various techniques of farming and irrigation, and the tools and mechanics used. Numerous things that we see as aboriginal today, such as using a hand plow, were extremely contemporary in ancient times, and played key roles in the development of man and society, since quick labor was not abundant before this time. We are now extremely advanced in agriculture and irrigation and the tools used to farm and grow and harvest crops. We have learned from our past and ancestors how to grow and evolve in our methods and have advanced forward greatly.
Droughts can have adverse effects on multiple levels. It can affect individuals, governments and ecology as a whole. At a micro level, droughts can create severe financial pressures on the farmers as they cause crop loss which in turn c...