Erosion has proven to be one of farmer’s worst fears for growing crops.

In the 1930’s many farmers had problems growing their crops from the over use of plating and not giving the time for the soil to recover the nutrient.

The crops grown in such soil were weak: when an extended drought struck crops quickly died.

With no plant roots to hold the soil, high winds blew much of the topsoil away from this farming region, which becomes known as the Dust Bowl or as we know a dust-storm.

The devastation took place at the very sensitive time in the United States economy. The 1930’s are remembered as hard times for many American families with the Stock Market Crush in 1929, which made the Great Depression and the coming up of World War 2.

Many of the farming families could not make their payments on the farms and lost the land in foreclosure by banks.

 

 

 

 

The United States government realized that the health of the nation depended on strong agriculture.

The U.S government started programs to assist farmers financially and to teach soil conservation techniques that would prevent this crisis from happening in the future.

Some techniques used to prevent erosion include planting trees for windbreak barricades, using contour plowing so the wind and water cannot pick up speed to carry soil away,

or terracing or making flat fields along hillside’s too create moregrowing land.

Other techniques are resting and revitalizing soil with nutrients from plantes ( such as beans )

or fertilizers or letting the land have some resting time to recover.

 

 

 

 Much of the fear of losing the soil so necessary for successful farming comes from the realization of how long it takes for natural processes to create even an inch of topsoil.

The process begins with the-break-down of the bedrock material, this action is called weathering.

Eventually the bedrock is broken down into small particles and mixed with water and minerals to form the new layer called subsoil.

Subsoil does not have the organic material, necessary to provide nutrients to assist with growing plants.

This organic material comes from the decomposition and decay of dead plant and animal tissue with organic material referred to as humus.

Humus-is-a-necessary-part of any fully developed soil layer calledTopsoil.

This creation of layers takes hundreds of year’s to finish what is called a mature soil profile.

The U.S. government programs helped the farmer’s to live through the 1930’s and changed the future of agriculture forever.

And for over 70 year’s the U.S. government still help’s the farming community with these programs to stay in business and to insure that farmer’s will produce what they need and to keep our farming community in business.

Since that time many different farmers use

new techniques to grow there crops.