American Agriculture History Minute: Crop Insurance, Conservation Techniques Revive Great Plains Agriculture

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

Early settlers discovered that the Great Plains were not all that great. They found very harsh climate with tornadoes, blizzards, drought, hailstorms, floods and grasshoppers. It made for high risks and ruined many crops and many settlers that became financially ruined and either protested through the populist movement or went back east.

In the 20th century, crop insurance, new conservation techniques and large-scale federal aid lowered the risk and helped those farmers re-establish themselves the next generation.

That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.