Agricultural Development Video Lecture | Social Studies (SST) Class 8

due to the great plains that were
chiefly responsible for its wheat
production USA was once known as the
breadbasket of the world however these
Great Plains soon turned the breadbasket
of the world into a dust bowl let's see
how this happened the Great Plains were
covered with a thick layer of grass with
deep roots which was difficult to
unearth with the existing equipment to
overcome this difficulty different types
of new plows were designed locally with
time technologically advanced disc
ploughs and tractors came up for
clearing the vast stretches for wheat
cultivation
then came technology advances in crop
harvesting as well before the 1830s
grain used to be harvested with a synth
or sickle by several men and women in
the year 1831 the first mechanical
Reaper was invented by Cyrus mcCormick
this quickened the lengthy process of
harvesting later combined harvesters
were invented that were used to cut
grain
these were highly efficient machines
that could harvest 500 acres of wheat in
two weeks these huge machines replaced
large amounts of human labor many poor
farmers tried to keep up by buying these
machines with loans from banks
you
however the great agrarian depression
that set in during the 1930s made
matters worse the poor farmers could no
longer repay their debts to the bangs
all find any jobs due to the
mechanization of the harvest process
the 1930s also witnessed disturbance in
the ecological balance of the Great
Plains coupled with the droughts of the
1930s and the large-scaled removal of
natural vegetation for wheat cultivation
over the years the Great Plains were now
covered by dry soil these huge expanses
of dry soil were exposed to the
ferocious winds that blew across the
open landscape causing dreadful dust
storms and blizzards people were blinded
and choked cattle and fish suffocated to
death the Great Plains that once was the
breadbasket of the world had now been
reduced to a big Dust Bowl causing
damage to both life and property
you