A major problem was taxes, which had to be paid in cash. Wherever they could, families cut down on expenses. Many women had sewing skills and began producing much of their family’s clothing. Chickens supplied both meat and eggs, while dairy cows produced milk and cream. Farmers could grow their own food in large gardens and raise livestock to provide meat. Farm Families and the Great Depressionįarm families were often better suited to weather hard times than town residents. The situation during the 1920s was bad it got much worse in the 1930s. Without the safety nets of today like Social Security, many families found themselves without income, losing their homes and facing poverty. With factories closing and banks failing, unemployment continued to rise. Panic ensued, and the market dropped sharply. When it became obvious that the price of stocks far outpaced their productive capacity, investors lost confidence and began selling before prices dropped further. Many thought that because the stock market had been on a sustained upswing, it was a good place to invest money. However, not everyone saw the pattern emerging. The workers could not buy the factory output either, meaning more lay-offs, and the country fell into a downward spiral. When factories couldn’t sell their products, they laid off their workers. When farmers were not making money, they could not buy the products that factories were making. In the 1920s, only slightly less than half of the U.S. For the Midwest, it started in 1921, and farmers and the small towns that depended on the land were hit hard. The post-war depression did not start with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. With the collapse of farm prices, the land bubble burst, often dropping the market value of the land well below what the investor owed on it. Until then, land prices had been rising rapidly as farmers and non-farmers saw buying farms as a good investment. The farmers, however, continued to produce at near record levels creating surplus commodities that sent prices plummeting. government with little warning announced that it was ending price supports. In 1920, with the war over and the demand for farm goods decreasing, the U.S. As Food Demand Drops, Farm Prices Collapse They guaranteed high prices and appealed to the farmers’ patriotism through slogans like "Food Will Win the War." Farmers borrowed to buy new machinery to replace the labor lost by sons and hired hands drafted into the military. government had vigorously encouraged farmers to expand crop and livestock outputs to feed the army and U.S. The United States had experienced several major economic swings before the Great Depression in the 1930s. State Historical Society of Iowa - Secondary Navigation
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