The Windweed Report

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” Thomas Jefferson once said "Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness." This quote can be applied and lived through all eras of our nation. Not once have we had a nation without agriculture, without the need to continue, or the will to survive. The United States of America is the nation to imitate when it comes to the success and pride of our agriculture industry. That isn't to say that we haven't had our flaws, our disasters or our depressions. The Dust Bowl of the Great Depression was a horrific man-made environmental disaster, one of the worst in our nation's history. The Dust Bowl, however, didn't bring an end to agriculture or to the people of our nation. The Dust Bowl brought out the strongest, wisest and most grit-filled individuals. Tough times don

In order to combat the tragedies of the Dust Bowl the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act was passed to address the startling depression in the 1930's. The act was passed by the Supreme Court in 1936 while F.D. Roosevelt was president, to alleviate those affected and struggling with the Great Depression and specifically, the Dust Bowl. The Act was a federal law that enabled the government to be able to pay farmers to reduce production of crops. This was to conserve soil health and prevent erosion. It included directives to conserve the soil that was being raised by the hot winds to create the huge dust storms. The era of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression hit farmers the hardest. The act attempted to correct the former government policies which encouraged farmers to use their land without any regard for the consequences of bad farming practices. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “In signing the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, I feel that I am approving a me

How brown are the prairies of Kansas,  How dust strewn her roadways today.  The sun for the present has left us. The air -- it is murky and grey.  But if we should live till next springtime,  How green her prairies will be,  All starred with beautiful flowers Like the waves of a restless sea.  And far in the distance our sorrows,  Will seem to have passed away,  Like the brown of the lovely prairies,  Like the air that is murky and grey.   -Mrs. Sarah E. Stotler  "Duster" rolling over a town in the plains. Photo courtesy of USA Today.  This type of folklore is a poem, specifically an agriculture poem about the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. According to Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time, " Cattle went blind and suffocated. When farmers cut them open, they found stomachs stuffed with fine sand... the instinctive act of hugging a loved one or shaking someone's hand could knock two people down, for the static electric

The topic of erosion control may not seem like it has a lot to do with agriculture from the outside, but if you think back to the Dust Bowl, you’ll realize that erosion control and responsibly using land has everything to do with agriculture. Now, how does manpower fit into that equation? Back in the 1930’s, the Great Depression hit alongside one of the largest man-made natural catastrophes in America’s history; the Dust Bowl. Lessons that farmers, scientists, and everyday people learned from this chapter of our history textbooks is this: before nature gives us the fruits of our labor, we must ensure we give her something back. A little overview of the Dust Bowl; how did it happen? When the people of America who homesteaded (per the governments’ request) settled in the plains, they farmed little gardens to keep the family afloat. Decades later, their ancestors would “plow-up” their land to farm, fueled by rising wheat prices, a war in Europe and a couple good years of rain.

Rhetorical Analysis of Conservation Rhetoric USDA Forest Service and "Smokey Bear" The Ad Council, federal Office of War Information (OWI), and the US Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service went in together on the Cooperative Forest Fire Campaign, which was first established in 1942. The campaign was focused on Forest Fire Prevention. In 1949, they ran the above advertisement, which was intended to be put on a bus or subway car. The every day American was the target of this campaign. It's purpose was to encourage Americans to be more careful in the forests and to not start forest fires. The Ad Council, federal Office of War Information (OWI), and the US Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service paired up to push this campaign using the rhetoric strategy of pathos. Although the advertisement was shown to be concerned with the welfare of wildlife, the Ad Council, OWI and USDA Forest Service really pushed the campaign to decrease forest fires that were eating up the

What is it? Reclamation and conservation seed and erosion control are the efforts that are taken to ensure the land recovering from a wildfire can be properly reseeded to maintain the vulnerable land, and promote new growth of native plants to restore the condition of the scorched land.  Are wildfires bad for the land? According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), there are many benefits of fire. "It is one of our greatest tools and one of our most destructive forces," (Cal Fire). Fires actually clean the forest floor, provide better habitat for animals, kills disease and promotes new generations of plants and animals (Cal Fire).  What can be done to help the land flourish after a fire? We can replant the land with native species to encourage growth on the vulnerable land. After a large fire, when there is no vegetation to prevent erosion, mass flooding and mudslides can occur, causing massive damages and even death.