Maladjustments in Land Use 



33 



forms of aid. The great drought of 1931-34 did not 

 so seriouslj' affect the southern Great Plains, except 

 perhaps in parts of New Mexico as it did the northern 

 portion lying in Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. 

 At the time of this report there was a more general 

 recognition of problem areas in the northern than in 

 the southern Great Plains, due perhaps to the rela- 

 tively greater severity of the dry period in the northern 

 Plains States during the years 1931-34, accentuating 

 conditions of distress and raising questions of agricul- 

 tural adaptability. A few years of above-the-average 

 rainfall in the northern, or of pronounced drought in 

 the southern Great Plains, would no doubt result in a 

 somewhat different designation of problem areas than 

 the present one.^ 



General Economic Conditions. — In addition to the 

 general precariousness of farming in the western Great 

 Plains there are locally many areas where soils are 

 infertile or nonretentive of moisture; steeply rolling or 

 rough topography adds its quota of poor land; occa- 

 sional belts of sand hills, steep escarpments, or areas 

 especially subject to wind erosion locally give slender 

 returns to agriculture. For example, in some of the 

 northern portions of the Great Plains, more than 50 

 percent of the land is imsuited to crop production. In 

 many localities, therefore, land values are low. Over 

 nmch of eastern Colorado, 1929 land values averaged 

 only $10 per acre. At present much of it is valued at 

 $3 to $.5 per acre. In 1934 between 25 and 35 percent 

 of this land, formerly cropped, lay idle. Moreover, 

 .50 percent of all land which was ])lanted was not har- 

 vested, owing to crop failure. Nor is this an imusual 

 occurrence, for a large acreage of wheat is left imhar- 

 vested even in good or fair years. In southwestern 

 Kansas, near the Colorado boundary, this abandoned 

 acreage has averaged 40 percent dining the last 20 years. 

 Over large areas of the western Great Plains wheat 



1 Since the preparation of this report, the Southern Great Plains has been more 

 severely affected by drought, esi^ecially in the region which has been called the 

 "Dust Bowl." 



yields average 8 to 111 liusiiels and in some areas as low 

 as 6 or 7 bushels. 



Under such conditions farm incomes are frequently 

 quite low. In western South Dakota at least 20 per- 

 cent of the farms reported gross incomes of less than 

 $1,000 in 1929. In the "problem areas" of eastern 

 Colorado 30 to 40 percent had gross incomes of less than 

 $1,000. In Montana, North Dakota, and New Mexico 

 large numbers of farms earned less than $(500 yearly. 

 Today these figures are much lower than in 1929. 



In many localities from one-half to two-tlurds of 

 the farms are owned by absentee landlords. Well 

 over half of the farms were mortgaged even in 1929. 

 Today the proportion is doubtless much greater. Tax 

 delinquency is quite general. In southwestern Kansas 

 a 5-year weighted average for a large group of counties 

 shows a dehnquency of 17 percent. Parts of South 

 Dakota showed on November 1933 a 20 to 30 percent 

 delinquency in all taxes levied between 1928 and 1932. 

 In one area in New Mexico tax delinquency has reached 

 92 percent. Large acreages in the Great Plams have 

 accordingly reverted to the counties. 



One of the great handicaps to manj' parts of the west- 

 ern Great Plains is the distance to market and railway. 

 Extensive areas of farm land lie from 20 to 50 miles 

 from railways and many farms he at least 15 miles 

 from rail service. 



Emergency Crop and Feed Loans} — In many years 

 crop failure is so complete that seed for the following 

 year is not available locally. In 1918-19 the President 

 allotted approximately $5,000,000 from the war 

 emergency fund for seed loans in the Great Plains 

 States, in 1921-22 Congress appropriated $3,500,000 

 for the same purpose. Beginning with 1921 , emergency 

 seed or feed loan appropriations have been made 

 available hi 10 different years. The earlier appro- 

 priations were available only to Imiited areas which 



3 This discussion on emergency crop and feed loans was contributed by Norman 

 J. Wall. Division cf Agricultural Finance, Bureau of Agricultural Economics. 



I Datfl from Farm Credit Administration. 



» Only $0,783,000 of the 1934 loans had matured as of Aug. 31. 1934. 



