46 HHD
September 2011
Dust Bowl of 1930s
led to irrigation today
H
OT, dry weather on the Great
Plains and Southern Plains this
summer had many people remembering the Dust Bowl era. In some
states, such as Kansas, ranchers have
had to sell cattle because they couldn’t
feed them — just like in the 1930s.
In the depths of the Great Depression,
farmers on the Great Plains had more
than an economic battle to fight. In addition to facing years of depressed prices,
they also faced a decade of drought,
high temperatures and dust storms.
The Dust Bowl, the name given to the
drought and resulting dust storms on
the Plains, lasted from 1930 to 1940,
although the dates vary by location. It
affected most of the Great Plains, from
the Canadian prairies to the Texas
Panhandle.
In the best of times, the Great Plains
could be a difficult region in which to
farm. The area experienced great extremes in temperature, high winds and
relatively low moisture. Much of the
Great Plains is semi-arid and receives
rainfall barely adequate for agriculture. During the 1930s, however, the
area experienced extreme drought and
extremely high summer temperatures.
The worst of the drought conditions
came in 1934 and 1936. The combination of drought, high temperatures and
windy conditions resulted in dust
storms throughout the region, which
were at their worst in 1935 and 1937.
Some dust storms only raised a fine
haze of dust, while others brought huge,
rolling clouds of dirt that blotted out the
sun at midday.
The Southern Plains, including
parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New
Mexico and Colorado, suffered the most
from the drought and dust storms. At
the height of the storms, 50 million acres
of land experienced severe wind erosion
and a virtual collapse of agriculture.
No feed for livestock
For Great Plains farmers, the 1930s
were a disaster. The drought and dust
storms rendered their efforts fruitless.
While many continued to plant crops,
they rarely produced enough to support
their families. Many farmers slaughtered their cattle and swine because
they could not feed them. Even growing
a garden could be problematic, since
irrigation was a necessity, and dust
storms often destroyed garden veg-
etables. Due to severely depressed agricultural prices, farmers received little
for the crops and animals they managed
to produce. Prices failed to meet the
costs of production. While growing and
harvesting a bushel of wheat might cost
nearly a dollar, farmers only received
50 cents a bushel — or less. It was only
the New Deal agricultural programs, and
the money they brought, that kept most
farming families afloat.
The events of the 1930s caused intense federal interest in the problems
of agriculture on the Great Plains. As
a result of the provisions of the Taylor
Grazing Act, the government ended
homesteading in the continental U.S.,
reflecting doubts about the ability of
farmers to sustain their enterprises in
the depths of drought and depression.
Under the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration, farmers received payments allowing them to restrict acreage
and reduce the number of animals on
their farms, a feature of farm programs
that continues to this day.
The Soil Conservation Service (SCS),
also part of the New Deal agricultural
program, paid farmers to undertake
conservation projects, such as planting
drought-resistant crops, terracing fields
and building small dams. Federal funds
paid for shelterbelts of trees, planted to
reduce wind erosion.
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HUSKER HARVEST DAYS 2011
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