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The Erosion of the Land
Author(s) -
Schaefer Julian J.
Publication year - 1946
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1946.tb01835.x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , sociology , computer science
In response to federal government incentives to expand agricultural lands in order to feed war-torn Europe following World War I, millions of acres of grassland in the U.S. Great Plains were plowed under and planted into row crops during the 1920s. Desperate to increase their income, farmers over-plowed, over-planted, and over-grazed the land. Then, during the Great Depression of the 1930s severe drought and plummeting agriculture prices combined to cause the Dust Bowl disaster. The federal government responded with a variety of programs that encouraged farmers to use soil conservation methods that would help conserve soil fertility and stop the severe erosion. However, tenants didn't want to invest in conservation measures for land that wasn't theirs, and landowners during the Great Depression couldn't afford to pay for soil conservation methods that might not see benefits for several years.