Mrs. Ruland's U.S. History Class Project
Efforts to help farmers improve crop prices.
By: Max, Zack, Alex, Sabrina
Even though times were hard and rough for farmers during
the Great Depression, many helped or aided farmers who were in need of
help. One popular protest was for neighboring farmers to buy a foreclosed
farm for a penny and gave it back for no charge to the farmer. A lot of
technological advances also helped farmers and their productivity. During
his term, President Hoover created the Federal Farm Board. Although the
board could not meet the growing challenges posed by the Depression, its
establishment represented the first national commitment to provide greater
economic stability for farmers and set a precedent for government regulation
of farm markets. When Roosevelt came to office, he took Hoover's initiative
further. He proposed laws designed to raise farm prices by limiting production,
which Congress approved. Other New Deal initiatives aided farmers. Congress
created the Rural Electrification Administration to extend electric power
lines into the countryside. Government helped build and maintain a network
of farm-to-market roads that made towns and cities more accessible. Soil
conservation programs stressed the need to manage farmland effectively.
There were many other New Deal initiatives such as the AAA. The following
are sites of these New Deal initiatives and why the farmers were in need
of this aid.
This site tells about the troubles farmers had during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Also, it has information on the bad condition of the farms and the plains. There is also a timeline from 1931-1939 that has information on what happened in the government during this period year by year and how severe dust storms were and about which crops are dying.
This site gives you some information of what farming was like just before the Great Depression. Also, it has information on why the Great Depression hit farmers so hard. This site contains some Agricultural Acts that tried to improve the welfare of these unlucky farmers. Lastly, it gives information on the policies farmers followed in order to regain better wealth for themselves and the different plans that existed in this time of hardship.
From PBS, this site covers efforts to repair the damages done by the Dust Bowl, and the farmers reactions to said efforts. It also discusses what other people in the government thought of Roosevelt's plan to end the Farmers' problems, and generally what was going on in the White House at the moment. It has several pictures, and a quote from an actual farmer!
American Agriculture: Its Changing Significance (Section: Farm Policy of the 20th Century)
This site covers all through the 20th century, which means from the prosperity of the 1920's to the 1960's, and even extends into the early 1970's. It gives a good overview of everything, although doesn't cover the Dust Bowl itself in depth enough. Unfortunately, it completely leaves out the middle/late 1930's, instead it just skips from early in the New Deal to post WWII.
Although the text information here is rather short and isn't anything new, it has a video of Carla Due, on which she shares her opinion of things during the New Deal.
The Federal Government's Cultural Influences on White County During the New Deal
This site tells about a specific county that is farmer based. It has information on what it was like for many of the farmers who suffered hardship in the Great Depression and how farming efforts saved them.
The Great Depression and the New Deal: Farmers
This website was good for a quick overview of the problems the farmers faced and how the main program tried to fix this problem. This website includes 3 primary source documents. However, this website (part of the SIRS database) does require a password so ask your teacher or your media specialist.
This website is not the greatest source to use because the information is located in one big paragraph. The information is hard to find in this form; however, this source is filled with a lot of information.
This site has information on what type of organizations of the New Deal benefited agriculture. It also has specific numbers on how many farmers the Great Depression had an effect on and who suffered the most. There is a lot of information in this outline under the Agriculture section.
This site is a general overview of what the Agriculture Adjustment Act did and how they helped to stabilize farmers during the Great Depression. This law also authorized the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and tells what factors they put into place to help farmers.
This is a site based on the second Agriculture Adjustment Act. This site also tells why it succeeded in taking upon the new role of the AAA and how it was changed.
This website tells of how the Farm Security Administration worked and what they did to put poor farmers onto good agricultural lands. It has information on a general overview of Agriculture and the drought problems.
Last updated March 28, 2005
© Marcella Ruland 1998-2008, All rights reserved
