Five Things You Know To Be True If You Were a Farmer During the Great Depression

During the 1920s, there was an overproduction of food, which made it difficult for farmer's to sell their produce. Although they once benefitted from the concept of "Mass Production", it eventually became the one thing that hurt the industry the most. This resulted in many farmers having to sell their farms and the agricultural industry fell into a significant depression. Farm prices dropped by about 60 percent and over 20 percent of Americans worked in the agricultural industry.

The introduction of Prohibition also hurt the agricultural industry. Farmers who grew wheat often used it to make whiskey and beer. The ban of the production of alcohol prevented farmers from doing this, hurting the industry even more. In 1929, the price of wheat and barley hit an all time low.

Farmers is Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas ultimately exhausted their soil by 1930. The land became so dry and bare that a long drought occurred resulting in massive dust storms. Due to the serious environmental disaster, there was a mass migration of farmers out of the area and social turmoil. Some of the migration groups were called the Exodusters and the Hokies. Following the Dust Bowl, the Soil Conservation Service formed in 1935 to jumpstart farm rebuilding.

During the Great Depression, baseball was a common pastime that allowed the middle to lower class, such the opportunity to forget their current economic situation. They could enjoy nine innings watching some of baseball's greatest players, including Babe Ruth. Being that farmer's were in the middle to lower class, this was often something they partook in.

Following all of the social turmoil, President Roosevelt established New Deal reforms to help alleviate some of the ongoing depression. In 1933, The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act and the Farm Credit Act were passed to address the most current and pressing issues among farmers. Additionally, legislation such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act was created and the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Rural Electrification Administration were created. Although these reforms helped the majority of large landowners, tenant farmers and sharecroppers were still left out.