Great Farming Effects

In 1929, the United States economy hit a major hardship that we now know as the Great Depression. After the stock market crash in October, the crisis began and our country’s business activity was at a concerning low. This economic catastrophe plummeted the family income in the years to follow. Aside for just the economy itself, the Great Depression had a major impact on the farming. Families turned to farming as a major way to cope with the tragedy. This impact on farming began soon after World War I. As a brief analysis of the affects before going further into detail, going into the Great Depression, the government set guaranteed priced on the goods. Mortgages during this time doubled from $3.3 billion to $6.7 billion as farmers rapidly expanded. Soon after implementing the guaranteed prices, the government soon removed them causing farming to produce an excess of supply to the low demand for the product. In the 12 years from 1919 to 1931, the National Farming Income fell from $16.9 billion to $5.3 billion (Moore). To begin, during

First, employment was greatly affected, especially for the farmers themselves. Farming was a lifestyle for these families. They invested their time and money into it, and due to the great debt many of them found themselves in, many lost their farms. Working on their farms was these individuals form of employment, so losing their farm meant losing not only their home, but their jobs as well. However, not only those on farms lost their jobs. Those in the cities and towns found themselves without work and stores and factories closed. After losing their jobs, the individuals and families could not purchase food, especially that of the farmers (Morain). So, this is the connection that examples a big reason why farmers found themselves a large surplus of crops since no one that needs these commodities could afford to purchase