Life of a Farmer During the Great Depression

Farmers continued to produce crops but since no person was buying it, the prices for the crops deflated. According to Christopher Lowe, "the prices were much lower than the product was worth " so low that it was often more expensive to raise a crop or cattle than to let the land die idle. " As prices go down, farmers were not making any more money. Farming became difficult for the farmers because they needed money to produce and keep the crops. It even came up to the point where "the price of corn dropped to 5 or 10 cents a bushel " (Farmcollector.com) that made coal cost more than corn. The decline in prices was evident through an example of having the new price of corn becoming less than the cost of coal. The new prices were so extreme that a consumable item that was produced in a farm was cheaper than a mineral that can be found anywhere. There were even farmers who used corn as a source of heat by burning them. During this time, "low worldwide prices for key crops caused farmers to declare bankruptcy " (Greenberg) as no one was buying the crops. The farmers had a difficult time as they had no money to get from their jobs. These prices led to farmers becoming bankrupt and facing debt. As years passed, the Dust Bowl came and even made things worse for the farmers. .
             The Dust Bowl worsened the negative impact that the Great Depression gave away to the farmers. Before the Dust Bowl came, people experienced severe drought and strong winds that made farmers incapable of producing crops. Farmers who were not able to sell their crops used them as food to consume and resources that could be used. When the Dust Bowl hit, "huge dust storms literally buried farmhouses and equipment " (Gale). The dust covered up the farms, equipment use to farm, and even people's own homes. The drought was bad and hard to deal with but the dust was worse and even harder to deal with since there were so many around them.