Another important reason was the lack of demand from the European market. During the war, tons of grain had been shipped by America to Europe, which made Europe, America’s biggest customer of grain. But, because of the devastation in the war, many European countries had been vastly bankrupt and very few countries could afford to buy farming goods anymore. To add to this, the republicans made it worse by the high tarrifs put up to protect America industries. This led to make Europe poorer so still it could not afford the American prices.
The effects were felt were all through America. Almost half of the Americans were becoming very desperate. They saw the boom was affecting them for the worse. Many farmers fled they’re land in search of a better life. Of course, attracted by the boom, they thought that big cities with huge buildings and lots of things to do could help them. It did not. There was little demand for they’re labour.
Farming was the backbone of American life, culture and character; hard work, self-reliance and overcoming adversity through they’re own efforts. Before the war, farmers had their own boom. More farmers were buying more land and farmer goods bought rose up to 25 per cent. This all affected the move for new machinery. They blamed the government for this because they protected the tariffs of the industry business and not agriculture. They show that the USA could eventually turn to industry and forget about farming altogether
America’s black population also was hit particularly hard. The blacks were mostly employed to do the least skilled jobs in the rural areas. Of course, they lost they’re jobs on farms and soon 3 quarter of million of them joined the unemployed ranks. The majority of farmers stayed very poor through out the 20’s. They could not afford things like electricity when the rest of America could. Simple things like running a radio relied on electricity and yet they couldn’t afford it. The only money they had was scrapped together to buy a car or truck, which was essential for the rural life they lived.
Many small-scale farmers asked their states for help. It occurred to them that big business and banks would not co-operate with them. States told them to work together but of course many farming families had already fled. The government offered loans but this was of no help to small farms because they did not want any more debt. The new machinery in big supermarkets and shops lead to less demand of farm good. Demand was less than supply.
Overall, many reasons led to the problems of the farming industry. Not one reason is the most important as they all helped wit the cause, but arguably the loss in European market was pretty high. Without the demand from these European countries, the farmers lost a huge amount of sales. The new machinery they had just added to this, as over production meant there goods were produces more than anyone wanted. It lead to bankruptcy as they could not afford to run these machinery and profit fell. Together, they both resulted in arguably the worse outcome for the farmers. There are little other things that became a cause; prohibition meant that grain was less in demand because it was used in the making of alcohol.