The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl stretched throughout the Midwest during the 1930's. It was caused by dust storms. Since it destroyed a large part of agricultural production, it contributed towards The Great Depression.

These storms forced migrant farmers to lose their business, their livelihood and their homes. Families migrated to California or cities to find work that often didn't exist by the time they got there. Many ended up living as homeless “hobos” or in shantytowns called “Hoovervilles," named after then-President Herbert Hoover.

The prairies of the Midwest were originally protected by tall prairie-grass, that held the topsoil in place during droughts. However, once the prairies were settled, farmers ploughed over the prairie grass. Years of over-cultivation meant there was no longer protection from the elements. Sure enough, in 1930, a drought killed off the crops.. High winds blew the remaining topsoil away. Dust suffocated livestock and caused pneumonia in children. The drought lasted for a decade. Parts of the Midwest still have not recovered. For more, see Cause of Dust Bowl.

The Dust Bowl could happen again. Agribusiness is draining the groundwater from the Midwest about eight times faster than rain is putting it back in. This area stretches from South Dakota to Texas and supplies about 30 percent of the nation's irrigation water. At this rate, the groundwater will be gone within the century, and parts of the Texas Panhandle will run dry in this year.

Here is a great point made by Larry West, the About.com Guide to the Environment, "Ironically, the Ogallala Aquifer is not being depleted to feed American families or to support the kind of small farmers who hung on through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years. Instead, the agricultural subsidies that began as part of the New Deal to help farm families stay on the land are now paid to corporate farms that grow crops we no longer need. As an example, water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer is helping Texas farmers grow bumper crops of cotton, but there is no longer a U.S. market for cotton. So cotton growers in Texas receive $3 billion a year in federal subsidies, taxpayer money, to grow fiber that is shipped to China and made into cheap clothing that is sold in American stores. If the water runs out, we won't have the cotton or the inexpensive clothing, and the Great Plains will be the site of yet another environmental disaster."