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Prices dropped and farmers lost their farms, jobs, and money. This gave us a glimpse of how we struggled without agriculture at its best. -
Huge dust clouds swept away the fertile topsoil of the plains revealing dry ground and a drought followed. -
The Mississippi River hit record lows during this drought as the fields and streams dried up. -
Farmers saw a decrease in production and profit mostly because of the depression and drought. Since they could not sell some of their food, it rotted. -
President FDR faced the "farm Problem" immediately because he was once a farmer too. He visited farmers and promised them change in years to come. -
Corn, already being at such a low price, worsened from 76 cents to 29 cents. Deflation like that is not good in an economy. -
Many of Rooselvelt's new deal programs helped farmers. One of the big ones was the Agricultural Adjustments Act. -
This law from FDR's New Deal offered farmers subsidies in exchange for limiting their production of certain crops. This helped increase the prices of crops. -
The first ever combine was created. These were helpful in the war and they also helped reduce manpower and animals needed in the farming process. -
USDA bolstered the food production on the homefront to meet necessary defense needs. -
USDA came up with new ideas for dehydrated food for soldiers. The food wouldn't go bad as easily and it travelled well. They also gave soldiers lighter equipment to carry around. -
The Marshall Plan played a huge part in feeding people who had little after WW2. The US sent food and supplies to feed and build farms across Europe.