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Corey Atkin
Professor Alec Thomson
HIST 153
6/2/17

M8 Assignment: A Day in the Life American Farmer

My names Tom Green, Im a 28-year-old farmer from Oklahoma. Ive grown up on the

farm my entire life. As a farmer, Im used to enduring hardships that many of the city folk will

never understand. The hours of back breaking labor, the early morning harvesting, the

unpredictable weather patterns. My family has been in the farming industry for many years. The

two main crops that we grow are wheat and corn. During WWI, our crops could barely keep up

with the demand. As soon as we could harvest it, it was sold for the war effort. After the war

however, it was a completely different story. The demand that me and my fellow farmers had

enjoyed was snuffed out like a candle. Wed seen our profits go from almost one million dollars

in 1919, to barely making ten thousand dollars by 1933.

When Franklin Roosevelt got into office, we desperately needed someone who could help

to re-invigorate our industry and help my family and thousands of other farmers get back on their

feet. Crop prices had fallen more than 75% during this time. Roosevelt had told us that he

believes that the key to higher prices was to grow smaller crops and raise fewer pigs and cows.

We took advantage of Roosevelts Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1933, which paid us to reduce

the size of our acreage for our crops. This however required us to essentially destroy half of our

crops. This caused quite an outrage locally and nationally, as many saw this move as extremely

wasteful when there were so many people down on their luck who can barely afford food as it is.

We tried to salvage what we could from the crops, and give to friends and neighbors, however
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there was still quite a bit of waste. In 1934, we were stuck with another devastating blow. A

terrible drought had wreaked havoc on our region. With the strong winds and drought conditions,

it kicked up the loose topsoil into what we around here call Black Blizzards. These giant dust

clouds were so dark it would block out the sky, and made it impossible for anyone to raise

livestock. These conditions are what finally caused us to have to make a move. Our family and a

few neighbors decided to head west in search of better opportunities and better land to develop,

and ended up in California. In 1935, Roosevelt formed the Soil Conservation Service and had

instructed us farmers with new methods to promote farm rehabilitation. These methods included

planting trees and grass, contouring patterns to hold rainwater, and rotating portions of the land

to lie dormant each year to allow the soil to regenerate.