How did farmers change the Great Plains?

The Homestead Act of 1862 was a significant driver to tame the Great Plains of the United States. A land of barren grasses, harsh weather conditions and isolated locales was met with the grit and determination of the pioneering individuals who would take up the land and make it useable by different means. The farmers who arrived knew that fencing, plowing and irrigating would be the only way to extract the highest value possible from the land. Because this unclaimed territory had no boundaries, barbed-wire fencing would be the initial action taken to protect their choice of crops planted. Then, came the plowing of the land to till the topsoil and produce maximum agricultural output. All this effort would have been in vain if farmers also hadn’t accounted for cyclical droughts by properly addressing the irrigation issues and digging their necessary wells. It can truly be stated that farming the Great Plains was a pivotal movement in the direction of a more prosperous country with an unseen and dynamic future ahead.

When the United States first acquired the plains, they were listed on maps as the Great American Desert because the region had no trees. Farmers in search of cheap land and immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe saw the grasslands as an opportunity. Farmers built homes out of sod—these people were called "sodbusters." Farmers also used steel plows in order to dig deeply into the ground and plant wheat. The region produced outstanding grain crops due to the grass holding the topsoil and the presence of buffalo. Once these two natural factors were removed with the plow and the gun respectively, farmers noticed that it became harder to maintain topsoil, especially in dry years. The period just before and during World War I brought wheat speculators to the plains; when the war ended, many of the speculators left. This, combined with historic drought, would serve as the origin of the Dust Bowl. During the 1930s farmers began to focus more on irrigation and ensuring cover crops protected the topsoil. Farming is still a major economic driver in the region, but many farmers have turned to no-till technology in order to maintain the soil.