Farmers In Americ The Effects Of The Great Depression

The 1920s was a time of wealth and hope for the majority of people across America. Farmers in America, however, were starting to experience the effects of the Great Depression, beginning at the end of World War l in 1918. The Great Depression was the longest and most widespread depression in American history, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Farmers had been at an all-time high in production levels during World War l by selling their products to European markets. When the war ended European markets were closed off by tariff restrictions. Advancements in machinery continued as well as farmers harvesting their crops and raising their livestock in large quantities, this soon ended. Farmers were the most negatively affected during the 1930s because their

Prices were dropping quickly and farmers were getting to a point where they could not drop their prices anymore and still get a profit. An example of this is “in 1920 wheat sold for $2.94 a bushel in Chicago. In 1929 it commanded only $1.00, and by 1932 it sold for a scant $.30” (Baughman). President Hoover hoped to fix this problem by enforcing the Federal Farm Board (FFB) in 1929. The FFB did produce more cotton and wheat but failed to improve the problem of over-productivity. Farmers were beginning to feel hopeless and knew there needed to be a change to get their lives back. Frustrated dairymen in Wisconsin would confiscate milk trucks and overturn the milk on the ground. Farmers in Iowa followed protocol and started the Farmers' Holiday Association. This was made with the hope that farmers across the nation would follow along with a strike trying to raise prices for their goods. Not all farmers agreed that these ways were the solution, once violence broke out between the two sides the strikes were brought to an end. Once the violence ended between the two it was brought to attention that a bad storm would be sitting

Millions of acres of crops were destroyed. People who were there at the time explained that walking through the fields was like having a waveform in front of you. An example of this is how Professor Jeff Lockwood of Wyoming states "They explode from beneath your feet. There’s sort of a rolling wave that forms out in front of you. They hit up against your body and cling to your clothes. It’s almost like being immersed in a gigantic living being" (History). It is said that during July in the early 1930s swarms of grasshoppers were “so thick that it blocked out the sun and one could shovel the grasshoppers with a scoop” (History). Corn fields were eaten to the ground leaving fields completely bare. Swarms have not affected the United States since the