Anxieties Surrounding Agriculture at the End of the War

Farmers striking in Sioux City, Iowa in 1932 to protest the falling prices of crops and the failure of the government to bring relief to farmers.

While the end of the War was fantastic news to everyone around the world, it posed a serious problem to farmers. As the War came to an end, so did the foreign demand for crops, and prices plummeted. The price index received by American farmers dropped from 244 all the way down to 148 between May 1920 and December 1920.¹ The drop in prices and demand generated anxieties among farmers in America. Farmers demanded relief from the government, but the Wilson administration was quick to veto legislation that would advance loans and help farmers after the War.² Although Wilson wanted to help farmers, he did not believe the government should "finance private businesses at public expense" anymore, now that the War was over.³ This would leave farmers across the country helpless and uneasy about the falling prices and low demand for products that were just at an all-time high.

The government continued to ignore farmers' needs, so some took matters into their own hands by protesting and striking. One strike in 1932 took place in Iowa where farmers were protesting government inaction and the falling prices due to the end of the War and the Great Depression.⁴ It would not be until 1933 that the government took action to help relieve farmers. The New Deal introduced the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which took action against the drop in crop prices after the War due to the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.⁵ This bill would lay the foundation for farm bills in the following decades.⁶ The farm bill was one of the primary sources that farmers received relief from, and it would prove successful in relieving the anxieties farmers had for the years to come.