Agriculture and the 1920's Boom
In the 1920's, farmers and people alike were struggling to keep up
with the highly efficient Canadian wheat producers. Many European
countries suffered great bankruptcy from World War one and could no
long afford to ship things like grain to they're countries. To add to
this, the American population had been gradually falling so there were
fewer mouths to feed.
New machinery and technology were being made ad farmers tried to take
advantage of this. This backfired. Farmers started to produce a lot of
food like wheat and grain that very few people wanted. Just as the
farming efficiency raised to the Canadians level, there was no one to
buy or nowhere to ship all this produce. This all led to farming
families rapidly losing money and supplying goods at rock bottom
prices and which yet became a struggle to sell. The boom was leading
people away from basic farming food and to other chains available to
Another important reason was the lack of demand from the European
market. During the war, tons of grain had been shipped by America to
Europe, which made Europe, America's biggest customer of grain. But,
because of the devastation in the war, many European countries had
been vastly bankrupt and very few countries could afford to buy
farming goods anymore. To add to this, the republicans made it worse
by the high tarrifs put up to protect America industries. This led to
make Europe poorer so still it could not afford the American prices.
The effects were felt were all through America. Almost half of the
Americans were becoming very desperate. They saw the boom was
affecting them for the worse. Many farmers fled they're land in search
of a better life. Of course, attracted by the boom, they thought that
big cities with huge buildings and lots of things to do could help
them. It did not. There was little demand for they're labour.
Farming was the backbone of American life, culture and character; hard
work, self-reliance and overcoming adversity through they're own
efforts. Before the war, farmers had their own boom. More farmers...