Agriculture and Prosperity Flashcards
What were the effects of Tariffs on agriculture?
One reason why Agriculture did not share in the prosperity of the 1920’s boom was because of republican policies or more specifically Tariffs. During the First World War, Grain from the Midwestern and Southern states were exported to Europe, booming America’s agriculture, leading many farmers to heavily rely on that form of income. Then when republican policies came into place, American Tariffs made it really hard to sell to Europe, and it was really hard for european countries to sell in American markets. At the same time American agriculture was also starting to face competition with places like Canada and Argentina.
Why did food consumption affect agriculture?
American patterns of food consumption were changing. An increasingly prosperous population started preferring finer and more luxurious foods. Ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to cereal. Then with Prohibition and the banning of alcohol meant that the consumption of barely in making beer fell by 90 percent. The total US farm income dropped from 22 billion dollars in 1919 to 13 billion in 1928. Farmers still continued farming, taking up more land and using machinery to make the system more efficient.
Why was there overproduction of food?
From 1900 to 1920 farming was doing really well, taking up more and more land. New pieces of machinery and improved soil made agriculture very efficient. By the 1920s farmers were producing surpluses of wheat which nobody wanted. Due to this farmers desperately tried to lower their prices, in hope of selling more products but the price kept falling.
What happened to the farmers?
Problems in farming directly affected more than 60 million Americans. However, not all Americans were affected by this. The richer farmers had money to sustain themselves with machinery and those that farmed fresh fruits and vegetables prospered due to the increase of demand. 6 million rural Americans were forced off the land.
How much did the farm income decreased in the 1920s?
It went from 22 billion in 1919 to 13 billion in 1928.
