Replies

I’ve got a theory about the Great Big Dust Bowl, but I don’t know whether the theory holds any water but here it is. The theory is based on one thing leading to another. The first thing that happen was there was a trade embargo passed by either Hoover or Roosevelt,(I don’t know my total history of that time period) but anyway that leads to farmers getting rid of most of their farm animals that didn’t have any value anymore and went ahead and put their fields to grain which had more value, instead of rotating them with the farm animals. With that there was no restoration of the land, Also with the loss of the animals they lost their natural fertilizer they were using for their crops, so that added to the problem, I’m sure this isn’t the total reason for the big dust bowl but my gut feeling it was a major player in the lead up to the Big Dust Bowl. What do you all think of this theory.

"What do you all think of this theory."

In an ideal world, one theory is no better than another.

(ahem)

I’ve got a theory about the Great Big Dust Bowl, but I don’t know whether the theory holds any water but here it is. The theory is based on one thing leading to another. The first thing that happen was there was a trade embargo passed by either Hoover or Roosevelt,(I don’t know my total history of that time period) but anyway that leads to farmers getting rid of most of their farm animals that didn’t have any value anymore and went ahead and put their fields to grain which had more value, instead of rotating them with the farm animals. With that there was no restoration of the land, Also with the loss of the animals they lost their natural fertilizer they were using for their crops, so that added to the problem, I’m sure this isn’t the total reason for the big dust bowl but my gut feeling it was a major player in the lead up to the Big Dust Bowl. What do you all think of this theory.

Actually, there was mass overproduction of crops worldwide...mainly in the Western Hemisphere....just after WW I. It caused farm prices worldwide to drop....and hit South America hard in the early to mid 1920’s. Eventually, the over-production caught up with the US and Canada...and as the world economy fell into the late 20’s and early 30’s....the over-production became worse.

Farmers then cut back on production....taking many fields out of service. Fields not tended...ended up getting blown away during the dust bowl...eventually taking producing farms with it.

The Smoot-Hawley tariff did not cause the Dust Bowl, nor the Great Depression, nor anything else (I think you were going in that direction). The “Smoot-Hawley Caused The Great Depression” myth is about as asinine as the Global Warming Hoax