Problems in the Farming Industry The agricultural Depression of the 1920's came on quick at the end of the Great War. Once the European countries supply increased, the United States supply decreased even more.

Letter to the president Dear Mr President Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ricardo, Francisco and Gitika from Carolina. Until about 1919 I owned a fairly prosperous small farm, but now I am facing ruin. We are facing many problems, Mr President. For example: General farm income has dropped from 22 billion to 13 billion. We are struggling against the Canadian. They are highly efficient producers.

We have produced goods that now, nobody wants to buy, because the Canadian industry is more efficient than ours. I admit, we have caused some of the problems ourselves by: Buying improved machinery, especially the combined harvester, improving fertilisers that made our agriculture extremly efficient. As a result, we overproduced and now don´t have a market where to sell our products.

But other problems, are beyond our control But other problems, are beyond our control. They have been caused by: Europe started spending less money on our products, because after war, their economy crashed, and they were left with little money. The highly efficient Canadian wheat producers. Mr President, we farmers are a large part of American society and the situation is serious. You must do something about it, because if it continues...  Agriculture industry will crash, and will never recover, unless you do something to help us and help the rest of American people.

Explanation of the problems in the Farming Industry While so many Americans were enjoying the boom, the farmers were suffering the consequences of the boom. All the farm income had dropped from $22 billion in 1919 to $13 billion in 1928. After the war Europe was very poor, so Europe imported far less food from the USA. Another reason was that it was partly a response to US tariffs which stopped Europe exporting to the USA.

Anther reason for the fall of the Industry was that it was struggling against competition from highly efficient Canadian wheat producer. Moreover, the population of the USA was actually falling and there were less people to feed. This problem was due to overproduction as well. From 1900 to 1920, when the farming industries was doing well, much more land was being farmed. Also there was improved machinery that helped to produce faster. This overproduction caused that there was more food but no people to buy it and the food went to waste.

Another big problem was that many Americans lived in the rural areas, and many worked on farms or in businesses that sold goods to farmers. That is why more than 60 million Americans were affected directly by this depression. The final big problem was that six million rural Americans were forced off the land. So, many Americans migrated to the cities. These people who migrated were unskilled workers and there was little demand for their labour. America ‘s black population was badly hit because they had always done the least skilled jobs in the rural areas. As they lost their jobs on the farms, three-quarters of a million of the were then unemployed.

Definitions Mexican bean beetle: A spotted ladybug of the southern United States and Mexico that feeds on the leaves of the bean plant. European corn borer: the larva of a European moth, a destructive pest in the U.S.A, feeding on corn.

Boll Weevil: a small, grayish weevil  with a long snout, whose larvae, when hatched in the immature bolls of cotton plants, destroy the bolls.