The Dust Bowl probably had more impact on the agricultural industry than any other industry in America. The Dust Bowl hit farmers hard, but they had no one to blame but themselves. The way farmers farmed and produced their crops destroyed the land and, after severe droughts, left much of the land unusable. First, to understand the impact of the Dust Bowl on farmers, we must determine what they did to cause the dust. Bowl. Farmers in the early 1900s, before the Dust Bowl, understood many basic agricultural practices such as crop rotation and the importance of grasslands in maintaining topsoil. During the 1920s, many farmers became too greedy and decided to grow only the crops that would make them the most money, ignoring the impact this decision would have on the soil. Farmers continually grew the same crops year after year, slowly diminishing the nutrients in the soil until there was almost nothing left (Source 1.) As if this decision wasn't bad enough, the farmers then began to cultivate meadows and plant huge fields of wheat. In the past this would have proved unnecessary because the farmer could not have dreamed of being able to harvest all that wheat, but with the invention and advancement of tractors, farmers could now plow much more land and increase their profits (Source 4.) With the removal of large portions of grassland, the topsoil was no longer anchored and was just waiting to be blown away by strong winds. These problems have been amplified by the fact that the Great Plains receives on average less than twenty inches of precipitation per year, which is less than most other regions of the country. (Source 8) All of these decisions by farmers were amplified when in 1931 a seven-year drought ensued...... middle of paper ...... during the Great Depression. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2004. 130-40. Print.Gazit, Chana. “Mass Exodus from the Plains.” PBS PBS.org. November 15, 2009. Web November 21, 2013. Gorman, Carol. “The farmer: no stranger to difficult times. » The American agricultural crisis. New York: F. Watts, 1987. 18-26. Print.Hughes, Patrick. “Dust Bowl Days.” Weatherwise 48.3 (1995): 32. MasterFILE Main Edition, Web. November 20, 2013. Long, Robert Emmet. The agricultural crisis. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1987 Print. McHenry, Robert. “Dust bowl.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. Print 2003. Nelson, Cary. “The Great Depression: About the Dust Bowl” Modern American Poetry. English University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Department 56. 2008. Web November 21, 2013. Oswald, Brad. “PBS Dust Bowl Documentary History Lesson, Cautionary Tale.” » “When the dust delivered despair. » Read 59.7 (2009): 4. MasterFILE Main edition. Web November 20. 2013.