By Mary O’KEEFE

It seems like last week’s Dust Bowl weather column sparked some interest so I have done more research and found how this drought changed the way we looked at farming, both on the farm and in D.C.

The 1930s Dust Bowl is considered the worst drought on record for the nation. 

“The 1930s drought is often referred to as if it were one episode, but it was actually several distinct events occurring in such rapid succession that affected regions were not able to recover adequately before another drought began,” according to the National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska.

First there is the actual drought. It affected the western third of Kansas, southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the northern two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle and northeastern New Mexico.

When most think of the Dust Bowl, John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath,” published in 1939, usually comes to mind. Though it was fiction it was a very realistic portrayal of the time. For those who haven’t read it, or at the very least have not seen the classic film starring a very young Henry Fonda, take time to read the book or watch the film. The story follows the Joads, a tenant farming family that chose to leave Oklahoma and travel to California. They left because their landlord evicted them. They could not pay the rent or buy anything due to the drought. 

The drought was the background for what was occurring in the country at the time. 

The Great Depression occurred in 1929; stock markets crashed and it launched a time of extreme economic downturn. The drought – the Dust Bowl – began in 1931 and lasted for almost a decade. The nation’s elected officials responded with federal aid but for many it was too little too late.

The drought was due to several issues including poor land management practices. Of course, there was misinformation being shared back then (sound familiar?) as promoters of the land settlements wanted to play up the perfect agricultural potential of the Great Plains. 

As I wrote last week, when most settlers arrived there were seasons of rain but when that ended no one had planned for a drought.

According to the National Weather Service, dust storms increased from 14 in 1932 to 72 in 1937. 

“What people didn’t realize, or realized but ignored, was that the deep-rooted grassland that covered the Plains held the soil in place. That grassland was not only being plowed up to grow wheat, but overstocking of cattle also contributed to the destruction of grassland with overgrazing … The farming practices of the time were particularly damaging. Between 1925 and 1930, there was plenty of rain and high demand for wheat, which in addition to the use of more modern farming equipment such as gasoline tractors and harvester-combines led to 33 million acres being completely denuded and vulnerable when the drought hit, allowing the soil to easily be swept away. Plowing was deep, which contributed to soil erosion. Cotton farmers left fields bare over the winter months, when the winds were at their highest, and burned the plant stubble to control weeds, which further removed any anchoring vegetation,” according to American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in a 2012 article “The Dust Bowl – A wake-up call in environmental practices.”

Most farms were family-owned and conservation information did not reach the majority of farm owners. When wheat prices plummeted during the Great Depression, farmers just plowed up more acres and planted more to make up for the loss. 

Hugh Hammond Bennett, known as the “Father of Soil Conservation,” served as the first chief of the Soil Conservation Service, now the Resources Conservation Service. Bennett led conservation efforts in the 1920s and ’30s. He urged the nation to address the “national menace” of soil erosion, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Services. 

Sheet erosion was the problem and preservation of the topsoil was the key. A couple of the simplest practices he suggested was crop rotation and leaving fallow fields [meaning not planting in those fields]. 

In addition, the Civilian Conservation Corps was ordered to plant 200 million trees from Canada to Texas to serve as windbreak and help hold the soil in place. 

“After suffering the worst drought in over 50 years in 2012, it’s clear that we have learned from the mistakes of the past. Although crop yields were down, higher prices and insurance helped to cover the economic loss, and farmland values have actually risen. But much of the High Plains remains in what is known as an ‘Exceptional Drought,’ level D4,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“D4 is the highest level and many areas surrounding this zone are still experiencing extreme and severe drought. Today, we worry about the effect we have on the environment on a global scale. We worry that the emission of greenhouse gases, depletion of the ozone layer, and other effects of industrialization are wreaking havoc with the gradual warming of the atmosphere. In the 1930s, it took extensive government intervention to turn the tide,” according to AAAS. 

Bennett had been warned for years of a large drought before it became a reality. When the Dust Bowl occurred he had proof that his warnings were valid, and the government responded; however, this was after there was a lot of pain and suffering by farmers. 

So when we now get warnings of climate change and best practices, history shows we should listen … I only hope we do. 

Resources:

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/history/brief-history-nrcs/hugh-hammond-bennett-biography 

https://www.aaas.org/taxonomy/term/10/dust-bowl-wake-call-environmental-practices

We will be looking for a warm up in the first half of next week. Today, (Thursday), Friday, Saturday and Sunday will see highs in the high 70s to the low 80s, then on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday temperatures will be in the upper 80s and mid-90s. These higher temperatures will be nearer to normal for this time of year. The recent marine layer has given us a bit of a break with lower temps. There does not look like there is any rain in the forecast.