Compare the plight of the Oklahoma farmers in Grapes of Wrath with the plight of modern farmers. If you don't know what I'm talking about, search the internet for articles about the modern farmer. Use textual support. Dig deep.
The Oklahoma farmers of that day were mostly tenant farmers that farmed the land owned by the bank. When the drought hit and the crops died, the farmer is unable to pay the bank the "rent" and the bank forces them to move out. The same idea is happening today. The drought hits and the small farmers of today are all but forced to sell out to a larger farmer or to a corporation and the small farmer must leave his homeland and find a new place to live and get a new job.
In the Grapes of Wrath the Oklahoma farmers are being shoved out by the banks. Using bulldozers they mow down the houses forcing reluctant farmers who couldnt pay their rent to hit the road for new jobs. Today smaller farmers can barly support their family so they are forced to try a different trade and they sell out to banks or larger companies. Even with bouniful harvests some farms will never yeild enough food to support a family.
Like Kyle and Julia said, the Oklahoma farmers were mainly tenant, so the Dust Bowl caused many of them to leave because their land got repo'd. Others were forced to leave their land in search of work because there was nothing left to farm. Unfortunately, for small farmers today, they are constantly getting bought out and struggling to survive independently. However, some farmland is very valuable to those who want to clear it and put in businesses or residential areas so if I was the one with the land, I would raise the price and sell it.
Julia, Cassie, and Kyle said that the farmers were mainly tenant farmers, which is true. If they, the farmers in the novel, were unable to pay the banks with the crops, the banks would shoo them away, or drive them off of the land. If there was a drought, then too bad, they would have to find someway to make money off of their crops in order to keep on the good side of the banks.
Today, the situation isnt too far from that. If you have a small farm, and a drought comes, and you are trying to make a living, but you cant, those who rely on you are not going to be too reliant on you.
If the situation becomes bad enough, then you can always sell your land, or give it to someone who would benefit from it.
The Oklahoma farmers, like modern farmers, worked hard with little or no reward. Small farms are often reposessed by larger buisinesses, like small farms in the 1930's. Farmers, both modern and past, are normally poor hard-working people that barely make ends meat without the debt that a larger corporation brings.
Farmers then and now both are the victims of drought and the bank. Small farms are more likely to be taken over because they produce the smallest amount of crop but big farms on the other hand have a better chance of surviving. In the Grapes of Wrath farmers didn't have any kind of warning. Now days farmers have the forcast and soil records.
Farming in modern times compared to the past has hardly changed. Both working day and night to make ends meet, but neve getting the proper recognition, or pay for the amount of labor they put out. While in modern times it has improved slightly, still no where near what it should be. They recieve barely any support through hard times such as droughts we still face today, yet no where near the struggle of Oklahoma farmers in the 30's. Banks were grabbing up land left and right to build the next gas station or mall, similiar to today. Families were left with no choice but to move on and try to find a way to make more money. Today, farmers recieve a few more benefits but still struggle in the same ways.
Presently there has a push in farming to consolidate the market. The corporation continue to grow, while the indepent finds himself in debt and out of business. Similar to circumstances of chapter five, effiency is key in the farming world so as to increase profits. The problem is of course the only way to increase effiency is through bigger and better machinery, but to keep on top of the newest machinery and thereby keep on top of effiency is posses the neccesary captial to do so which is usually such an emmense sum that only the corporation can afford. So in the end, farmers must either fallen in line with the rest of corporate America or face bankruptcy.
The pay for past and present farmers has been very poor and unstable. As in the past, many current farmers are forced to work on land that does not belong to them. Many must leave when droughts hit, and are left without many options.
Other similarities between past and present farmers lies within the stress. Each would constantly worry about the weather killing crops, and the concerns about something happening to their land. Nobody wants to lose the land that has been in their family for generations. Farmers have a very important role to society, but are forced to make many sacrifices to do so.
the problems of farming have not changed in thousands of years. you have to have enough to make a profit and feed your family. Every year since the world began farmers have faced one major issue, mother nature. Mother nature controls a farms outcome, if theres not enough rain, if theres too much rain, too much sun, too little sun, high winds, freezing stalks, all farmers face the same issues everywhere in the world all throughout time.
Oklahoman farmers in the 30's and farmers now are both at the mercy of nature. They rely so heavily on proper moisture and weather in general that lack of rain alone can cause the farmers to lose their land. If the crop is not producing than it is more expensive to own the land with no money coming out of it that it would be to sell the land and try something else.
The Oklahoma farmers in Grapes of Wrath were mostly very small and independent, and many things could sway their fortune, such as drought, plague, and disease, affecting everything from the crop to the livestock to the farmers themselves. Many times, these such components could sway luck so much that it was a matter of survival. Today, these sort of problems don't affect the farmers so much as the economy does. As with the 'farm crisis' of the '80's, there are two sides to the farmer's economic spectrum. There were those prospering greatly, and there were those that were suffering greatly. When faced with economic hardship, they were more at risk to stressful life events and depression.
P.s. Ethan, I sort of disagree. Farmers today are affected by nature, yes, but are not at the mercy of it. Today farmers use hormones, pesticides, and irrigation. So, if the weather doesn't turn in the farmer's favor, they can still rely on irrigation to water their crops. It may affect how much income they make that year, but not enough to be considered a 'plight.'
The life of the small farmer was no longer becoming possible. Obtaining land was no longer an easy and cheap process and one needed much land to be prosperous. This is similar to today in that to survive you cannot just grow enough food for your family and stop. There are fees you must pay, initial costs to cover, and loans to repay.
In The Grapes of Wrath, the drought killed off the crops of all the farms. Obviously if the farmers do not have crops, they cannot make money. While weather may not have such an extreme effect on farming today, farmers still have great difficulty making ends meet. It's a very tough and inconsistent paying job that rarely results in high income.
Although many things have changed for farmers in a tangible way, the general mindset and ideas behind farming have rarely changed. As previously posted, most farmers were tenant farmers and had no rights to their land which was frequently taken by the bank. Even though today's farmer often has a two or three generation family farm that has been in the family for decades, in a figurative sense, they are still controlled by the bankers. A multitude of laws protect and help farmers, but it is easy for families to lose their farms even though they have absolute ownership over them simply because banks are still very powerful. Things have drastically improved for farmers since the 30's both politically and economically. However, farmers are still subservient to some extent to bankers, not just economically, but socially as well. Sadly, most farm work is associated with dirt and manual labor, so many farmers are looked down upon socially as well.
The Oklahoman farmers of the Dust Bowl era and modern farmers of today are both faced with ominous problems. At the beginning of the Great Depression grain, beef, and other agricultural products were over produced, this caused a massive excess in crops. Because of this mistake prices on agricultural products were drastically low. Farmers produced more than they could sell, which resulted in bankruptcy. Farmers were forced out by their tenant or the bank and left homeless. Farmers today face similar problems in that they are being taken over by bigger corporations and farming industries. Now, hometown cattle raisers and farmers are slowly disappearing and being replaced with big business farmers. The farmers from Grapes of Wrath and modern farmers also share common ground because both practiced detrimental methods of farming. Farmers from the Dust Bowl era ruined their farmland by not practicing crop rotation, or by over plowing. Today modern farmers are defacing their land and crops by using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. These chemicals are not only damaging cropland but they also contaminate rivers and streams used for our water supply.
Just as many of my other classmates said In Grapes of Wrath The Oklahoma farmers were mostly tenant farmers who had a hard time surviving once the drought hit. Banks began shoving people out of their homes because things became so terrible.
Today modern farmers can be similarly effeced by hardships. If farmer has a larger farmer they are usually always prosperous, but on the other hand small farms do not always have this luck. Drought can be the cause of a down fall, but new products and systems have been developed to prevent a drought from hurting them to badly. Mostly the ups and downs of the economy cause the small farms to struggle with their income.
During the 1930s, farmers in Oklahoma contended with severe drought and poor soil conditions due to crude farming tactics. In spite of the fact farming techniques have improved with practices such as crop rotation and terracing, a critical drought status exists once again. Due to a lack of precipitation, the intensity of the drought in the twenty-first century is being compared to the Dust Bowl. Therefore, although agriculture approaches differ, drought still harshly affects farmers' crop production today. Also, similar to the government's inital disregard for the hardships of farmers in the 1930s, the federal government today is potentially crippling farmers. Presently, there is tough competition for water. Cities and industries are struggling for water to sustain their businesses at the same time as the farmers. The government's attempt to equalize water rights is up in the air. Therefore, if farmers do not have access to the water they need because it is given away to other industries and such, their business will crumble. Plus, as if that was not difficult enough to handle, it has recently been discovered that water may not be the renewable resource it was once thought to be in the past.
The farmers of Oklahoma were bought by banks and when they couldn't make the payments the bank would pretty much throw off the property. This is kind of the deal with small farmers today but they aren't so much being taken over so much as they are selling out because they have no other choice.
As we have answered the similarities in the economic plight in farmers today and those of the Dust Bowl, they are comparatively similar socially and in the lack of resources. While the thriving businessmen of the Dust Bowl were looked upon as leaders of their particular area, the struggling farmers who feed him and his admirers are tremendously overlooked. Unfortunately, when the farmers where looked at, they were only looked down upon. Also, during the Dust Bowl, there was an extreme loss of water. Today, farmers suffer from inadequate irrigation systems and lack of water as well.
Just as the farmers of Oklahome during the Dust Bowl had to pack up and leave in order to survive, so do the farmers of today (in a different sense though). In Yesteryear, farmers from Oklahoma had to pack up their possessions and travel to California. This means dropping the crops most familiar to being grown and picking up a new aspect of farming - citrus farming.
Today, farmers are no longer in control of their produce. Instead, big corporations are stealing the smaller farms away and transforming them into another part of the corporal giants. This creates a transition that the current farmer must ride through, just like their brothers and sisters of Yesteryear.
Society has forgotten both of the farmers, the one fromt the past and the one in today's world. The Oklahoma tenant farmers were getting left behind as society pushed towards big business. Like chapter five specifically states, farmers with many acres and tractors are the only ones with power now.
In today's world, the farmer is once again an image society is moving away from though now we are moving towards genetically modified plants instead of traditional farming. The chemist has the power today, not the farmer.
Modern farming heavily relates to that of the past. The life of a farmer has improved somewhat, but it still hasn't reached the point it should be. That point would be better income for all of the hard work and labor that they do, and more support during droughts. Although farmers today haven't faced any droughts as bad as Oklahoma farmers in the 1930's, they still aren't receiving enough respect for how much they really do.
What happened to the Oklahoma farmers is similar but different to what is happening today. The farmers in the book are not making enough crops because of the dust bowls, so the owners of the land are hiring a person to crop the land and make more production than the farmers could probably make in two years. One of the farmers talks about how one year they did not make enough money, so they borrowed money from the bank and now it is getting back at them. Bankers would take the farms by force, giving the farmers no choice but to leave. Farmers today face a similar type of problem. Many of the corporate farms buy crops from other countries like Africa for a cheaper price than what they would buy it in the U.S. The farmers in the U.S. are then faced to either sell their crops for a cheaper amount or try and sell them for the same amount with not too much luck. In my opinion, they are put against the wall with no way out.
The tractor was a new and reliable invention in the eyes of the bankers because it was a machine to make them more money. In the eyes of the farmers, it was a destructive machine. There are more inventions now to produce more crops and make more money. Chemicals are used to help farmers produce more crops. It depends on how you see the situation, because the farmers are mad about the bankers coming and taking their land, but whose land was it to begin with?
Although their obstacles come in different forms, both the farmers from the 1930s and the farmers of today fight to over come one common obstacle: the fear of not making enough of a profit to remain living the life of a farmer. For the farmers from the thirties it was drought that would keep them from making the profit margins needed survive, and it was the banks that would take possession of the farmers land if they did not find a way to come up with that needed profit. Today the farmers face not making enough profit due to economic changes, weather conditions, the lack of water for irrigation, and new diseases evolved from GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Banks still play a role in reposessing farm land; however large corporations unquestionably play the major role in taking the land of farmers. During a time when a farmer can not make enough money off of their farm, the efficiency of corporations causes the price of grain to lower, which causes the farmer to make even less money off of his crop then he had planned on. Unexpected shortcomings such as that can have a drastic effect of small farm families, often leading to the search for a new job.
Back in the 1930's the Oklahoma farms lived, breathed, and loved their land. The put all their heart into trying to get good crops out of their land to try and pay the bank back what they were loned. Modern farmers are rarely seen. Everything is done by machinery and not many men are needed to help out. Its owned by big companies, not single farmers and their family.
28 comments:
The Oklahoma farmers of that day were mostly tenant farmers that farmed the land owned by the bank. When the drought hit and the crops died, the farmer is unable to pay the bank the "rent" and the bank forces them to move out. The same idea is happening today. The drought hits and the small farmers of today are all but forced to sell out to a larger farmer or to a corporation and the small farmer must leave his homeland and find a new place to live and get a new job.
In the Grapes of Wrath the Oklahoma farmers are being shoved out by the banks. Using bulldozers they mow down the houses forcing reluctant farmers who couldnt pay their rent to hit the road for new jobs. Today smaller farmers can barly support their family so they are forced to try a different trade and they sell out to banks or larger companies. Even with bouniful harvests some farms will never yeild enough food to support a family.
Like Kyle and Julia said, the Oklahoma farmers were mainly tenant, so the Dust Bowl caused many of them to leave because their land got repo'd. Others were forced to leave their land in search of work because there was nothing left to farm. Unfortunately, for small farmers today, they are constantly getting bought out and struggling to survive independently. However, some farmland is very valuable to those who want to clear it and put in businesses or residential areas so if I was the one with the land, I would raise the price and sell it.
Julia, Cassie, and Kyle said that the farmers were mainly tenant farmers, which is true. If they, the farmers in the novel, were unable to pay the banks with the crops, the banks would shoo them away, or drive them off of the land. If there was a drought, then too bad, they would have to find someway to make money off of their crops in order to keep on the good side of the banks.
Today, the situation isnt too far from that. If you have a small farm, and a drought comes, and you are trying to make a living, but you cant, those who rely on you are not going to be too reliant on you.
If the situation becomes bad enough, then you can always sell your land, or give it to someone who would benefit from it.
The Oklahoma farmers, like modern farmers, worked hard with little or no reward. Small farms are often reposessed by larger buisinesses, like small farms in the 1930's. Farmers, both modern and past, are normally poor hard-working people that barely make ends meat without the debt that a larger corporation brings.
Farmers then and now both are the victims of drought and the bank. Small farms are more likely to be taken over because they produce the smallest amount of crop but big farms on the other hand have a better chance of surviving. In the Grapes of Wrath farmers didn't have any kind of warning. Now days farmers have the forcast and soil records.
Farming in modern times compared to the past has hardly changed. Both working day and night to make ends meet, but neve getting the proper recognition, or pay for the amount of labor they put out. While in modern times it has improved slightly, still no where near what it should be. They recieve barely any support through hard times such as droughts we still face today, yet no where near the struggle of Oklahoma farmers in the 30's. Banks were grabbing up land left and right to build the next gas station or mall, similiar to today. Families were left with no choice but to move on and try to find a way to make more money. Today, farmers recieve a few more benefits but still struggle in the same ways.
Presently there has a push in farming to consolidate the market. The corporation continue to grow, while the indepent finds himself in debt and out of business. Similar to circumstances of chapter five, effiency is key in the farming world so as to increase profits. The problem is of course the only way to increase effiency is through bigger and better machinery, but to keep on top of the newest machinery and thereby keep on top of effiency is posses the neccesary captial to do so which is usually such an emmense sum that only the corporation can afford. So in the end, farmers must either fallen in line with the rest of corporate America or face bankruptcy.
The pay for past and present farmers has been very poor and unstable. As in the past, many current farmers are forced to work on land that does not belong to them. Many must leave when droughts hit, and are left without many options.
Other similarities between past and present farmers lies within the stress. Each would constantly worry about the weather killing crops, and the concerns about something happening to their land. Nobody wants to lose the land that has been in their family for generations. Farmers have a very important role to society, but are forced to make many sacrifices to do so.
the problems of farming have not changed in thousands of years. you have to have enough to make a profit and feed your family. Every year since the world began farmers have faced one major issue, mother nature. Mother nature controls a farms outcome, if theres not enough rain, if theres too much rain, too much sun, too little sun, high winds, freezing stalks, all farmers face the same issues everywhere in the world all throughout time.
Oklahoman farmers in the 30's and farmers now are both at the mercy of nature. They rely so heavily on proper moisture and weather in general that lack of rain alone can cause the farmers to lose their land. If the crop is not producing than it is more expensive to own the land with no money coming out of it that it would be to sell the land and try something else.
The Oklahoma farmers in Grapes of Wrath were mostly very small and independent, and many things could sway their fortune, such as drought, plague, and disease, affecting everything from the crop to the livestock to the farmers themselves. Many times, these such components could sway luck so much that it was a matter of survival. Today, these sort of problems don't affect the farmers so much as the economy does. As with the 'farm crisis' of the '80's, there are two sides to the farmer's economic spectrum. There were those prospering greatly, and there were those that were suffering greatly. When faced with economic hardship, they were more at risk to stressful life events and depression.
P.s. Ethan, I sort of disagree. Farmers today are affected by nature, yes, but are not at the mercy of it. Today farmers use hormones, pesticides, and irrigation. So, if the weather doesn't turn in the farmer's favor, they can still rely on irrigation to water their crops. It may affect how much income they make that year, but not enough to be considered a 'plight.'
The life of the small farmer was no longer becoming possible. Obtaining land was no longer an easy and cheap process and one needed much land to be prosperous. This is similar to today in that to survive you cannot just grow enough food for your family and stop. There are fees you must pay, initial costs to cover, and loans to repay.
In The Grapes of Wrath, the drought killed off the crops of all the farms. Obviously if the farmers do not have crops, they cannot make money.
While weather may not have such an extreme effect on farming today, farmers still have great difficulty making ends meet. It's a very tough and inconsistent paying job that rarely results in high income.
Although many things have changed for farmers in a tangible way, the general mindset and ideas behind farming have rarely changed. As previously posted, most farmers were tenant farmers and had no rights to their land which was frequently taken by the bank. Even though today's farmer often has a two or three generation family farm that has been in the family for decades, in a figurative sense, they are still controlled by the bankers. A multitude of laws protect and help farmers, but it is easy for families to lose their farms even though they have absolute ownership over them simply because banks are still very powerful. Things have drastically improved for farmers since the 30's both politically and economically. However, farmers are still subservient to some extent to bankers, not just economically, but socially as well. Sadly, most farm work is associated with dirt and manual labor, so many farmers are looked down upon socially as well.
The Oklahoman farmers of the Dust Bowl era and modern farmers of today are both faced with ominous problems. At the beginning of the Great Depression grain, beef, and other agricultural products were over produced, this caused a massive excess in crops. Because of this mistake prices on agricultural products were drastically low. Farmers produced more than they could sell, which resulted in bankruptcy. Farmers were forced out by their tenant or the bank and left homeless. Farmers today face similar problems in that they are being taken over by bigger corporations and farming industries. Now, hometown cattle raisers and farmers are slowly disappearing and being replaced with big business farmers. The farmers from Grapes of Wrath and modern farmers also share common ground because both practiced detrimental methods of farming. Farmers from the Dust Bowl era ruined their farmland by not practicing crop rotation, or by over plowing. Today modern farmers are defacing their land and crops by using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. These chemicals are not only damaging cropland but they also contaminate rivers and streams used for our water supply.
Just as many of my other classmates said In Grapes of Wrath The Oklahoma farmers were mostly tenant farmers who had a hard time surviving once the drought hit. Banks began shoving people out of their homes because things became so terrible.
Today modern farmers can be similarly effeced by hardships. If farmer has a larger farmer they are usually always prosperous, but on the other hand small farms do not always have this luck. Drought can be the cause of a down fall, but new products and systems have been developed to prevent a drought from hurting them to badly. Mostly the ups and downs of the economy cause the small farms to struggle with their income.
During the 1930s, farmers in Oklahoma contended with severe drought and poor soil conditions due to crude farming tactics. In spite of the fact farming techniques have improved with practices such as crop rotation and terracing, a critical drought status exists once again. Due to a lack of precipitation, the intensity of the drought in the twenty-first century is being compared to the Dust Bowl. Therefore, although agriculture approaches differ, drought still harshly affects farmers' crop production today.
Also, similar to the government's inital disregard for the hardships of farmers in the 1930s, the federal government today is potentially crippling farmers. Presently, there is tough competition for water. Cities and industries are struggling for water to sustain their businesses at the same time as the farmers. The government's attempt to equalize water rights is up in the air. Therefore, if farmers do not have access to the water they need because it is given away to other industries and such, their business will crumble. Plus, as if that was not difficult enough to handle, it has recently been discovered that water may not be the renewable resource it was once thought to be in the past.
The farmers of Oklahoma were bought by banks and when they couldn't make the payments the bank would pretty much throw off the property. This is kind of the deal with small farmers today but they aren't so much being taken over so much as they are selling out because they have no other choice.
As we have answered the similarities in the economic plight in farmers today and those of the Dust Bowl, they are comparatively similar socially and in the lack of resources. While the thriving businessmen of the Dust Bowl were looked upon as leaders of their particular area, the struggling farmers who feed him and his admirers are tremendously overlooked. Unfortunately, when the farmers where looked at, they were only looked down upon. Also, during the Dust Bowl, there was an extreme loss of water. Today, farmers suffer from inadequate irrigation systems and lack of water as well.
Just as the farmers of Oklahome during the Dust Bowl had to pack up and leave in order to survive, so do the farmers of today (in a different sense though). In Yesteryear, farmers from Oklahoma had to pack up their possessions and travel to California. This means dropping the crops most familiar to being grown and picking up a new aspect of farming - citrus farming.
Today, farmers are no longer in control of their produce. Instead, big corporations are stealing the smaller farms away and transforming them into another part of the corporal giants. This creates a transition that the current farmer must ride through, just like their brothers and sisters of Yesteryear.
Society has forgotten both of the farmers, the one fromt the past and the one in today's world. The Oklahoma tenant farmers were getting left behind as society pushed towards big business. Like chapter five specifically states, farmers with many acres and tractors are the only ones with power now.
In today's world, the farmer is once again an image society is moving away from though now we are moving towards genetically modified plants instead of traditional farming. The chemist has the power today, not the farmer.
Modern farming heavily relates to that of the past. The life of a farmer has improved somewhat, but it still hasn't reached the point it should be. That point would be better income for all of the hard work and labor that they do, and more support during droughts. Although farmers today haven't faced any droughts as bad as Oklahoma farmers in the 1930's, they still aren't receiving enough respect for how much they really do.
What happened to the Oklahoma farmers is similar but different to what is happening today. The farmers in the book are not making enough crops because of the dust bowls, so the owners of the land are hiring a person to crop the land and make more production than the farmers could probably make in two years. One of the farmers talks about how one year they did not make enough money, so they borrowed money from the bank and now it is getting back at them. Bankers would take the farms by force, giving the farmers no choice but to leave. Farmers today face a similar type of problem. Many of the corporate farms buy crops from other countries like Africa for a cheaper price than what they would buy it in the U.S. The farmers in the U.S. are then faced to either sell their crops for a cheaper amount or try and sell them for the same amount with not too much luck. In my opinion, they are put against the wall with no way out.
The tractor was a new and reliable invention in the eyes of the bankers because it was a machine to make them more money. In the eyes of the farmers, it was a destructive machine. There are more inventions now to produce more crops and make more money. Chemicals are used to help farmers produce more crops. It depends on how you see the situation, because the farmers are mad about the bankers coming and taking their land, but whose land was it to begin with?
Although their obstacles come in different forms, both the farmers from the 1930s and the farmers of today fight to over come one common obstacle: the fear of not making enough of a profit to remain living the life of a farmer. For the farmers from the thirties it was drought that would keep them from making the profit margins needed survive, and it was the banks that would take possession of the farmers land if they did not find a way to come up with that needed profit. Today the farmers face not making enough profit due to economic changes, weather conditions, the lack of water for irrigation, and new diseases evolved from GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Banks still play a role in reposessing farm land; however large corporations unquestionably play the major role in taking the land of farmers. During a time when a farmer can not make enough money off of their farm, the efficiency of corporations causes the price of grain to lower, which causes the farmer to make even less money off of his crop then he had planned on. Unexpected shortcomings such as that can have a drastic effect of small farm families, often leading to the search for a new job.
Back in the 1930's the Oklahoma farms lived, breathed, and loved their land. The put all their heart into trying to get good crops out of their land to try and pay the bank back what they were loned. Modern farmers are rarely seen. Everything is done by machinery and not many men are needed to help out. Its owned by big companies, not single farmers and their family.
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