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In 1930 the impact of the stock market crash of October 1929 was beginning to be felt in rural America. The price per bushel of wheat and corn plummeted more than 25% in a single year. -
To remedy the problem of low crop prices the USDA tried to teach farmers to balance supply with demand. They urged farmers to ''readjust'' by voluntarily planting less of surplus crops like corn and wheat. -
Agriculture was devastated as fields and streams dried up. Even the great Mississippi River was down to historically low levels. Cattle couldn't be fed, crops failed, money was short and there was less food on the table -
In 1932 the situation worsened for America farmers and ranchers. The price of a bushel of corn dropped from seventy-six cents in 1929 to twenty-nine cents in 1932; beef prices dropped from ten cents to five cents per pound -
During the first half of the 1930s much of the nation faced devastating drought Numerous dust storms swept away valuable layers of topsoil across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico and Colorado -
Despite the opposition, presidents Roosevelt quickly signed the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. It brought immediate change. The Act provided for crop reduction through plow ups and slaughtering millions of pigs -
Many of President Roosevelt's ''New Deal'' programs were designed to help farmers, including: The Agricultural Adjustment Acts, the civilian Conservation Crops, the farm Security Administration. -
President Roosevelt sent direct aid to provide relief for the hungry and homeless in the dust bowl and USDA took action to stop soil erosion. Hugh Hammond Bennett, a soil conservationist and USDA scientist, fought to bring the problem of erosion to national attention. -
In march, Henry A wallace took office as the newly appointed Sectary of Agriculture. His roots lay in iowa, a large farming estate. He was a farmer, as well as a geneticist and farm philosopher. -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt took on the ''farm problem'' immediately. He told men, women and children working in the fields that he understood their struggles because he was a farmer too. He visited poor farmers, shook their hands and promised change -
Early in 1941 and USDA once again American farmers into no-holds-barred production. Hog farmers and cattle ranchers were also told to produce more. The lend lease Act of that year guaranteed the Allies food and other supplies. -
During World War II the United States Department of Agriculture was directed to intensify agricultural research efforts to meet vital defense needs. Substitutes for rubber, tropical oils, cork and other imported products needed by industry were given priority since