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Travel With Pam & Holiday Vacations
Date: 5/26/12-7/1/12
June Dairy Breakfast Schedule
Date: 5/26/12
Green Co. Dairy Breakfast
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Rock Co Breakfast on the Farm
Farm Events: |
Farm News: 75th Anniversary Of "Black Blizzard"commentsPosted: 04.15.2010
 Seventy-five years ago, one of the worst dust storms in history ripped across the plains.
This “Black Blizzard” was the result of intensive tillage and
wind combined with drought that left the soil open to erosion.
Lured by the promise of rich, plentiful soil, thousands of settlers came to the Great Plains.
They plowed up native grass and practiced intensive, non-rotational farming.
During “the good years,” above average rains produced bountiful wheat crops.
Soon all farmers were being paid good prices for their commodity.
Between 1925 and 1930, the amount of land under cultivation (farming) more than tripled.
Then, two things happened that created disaster.
In 1929, the stock market crashed, the prices of wheat went from $3 to only 40 cents a bushel.
And, in the summer of 1931, the rain stopped causing the catastrophic drought
that renamed the region “The Dust Bowl.”
By December 1934, more than 100 million acres of cropland had lost most or all of its topsoil.
Ninety percent of the crops surviving the drought
were later destroyed by grasshoppers in an 11,000 square mile area.
Sunday, April 14, 1935, known as Black Sunday, marked one of the
worst Black Blizzards of the Dust Bowl. By December 1935, 850 million tons of topsoil
had blown off the southern plains during the year.
Today, intense wind can still whip across farms and fields,
but modern farming practices and conservation efforts now safeguard the soil.
Seasoned citizens that lived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl years
may simply be grateful for survival, but modern society
must appreciate the decades of hard work that’s helped
safeguard the environment for current and future generations. This
marked the beginning of the Natural Resource Conservation Service through USDA. |