U.S. farm economics 5

The last substantive post (here) focused on Peter P and Margaretha’s context, how they took over the Epp family farm and steadily added to their land holdings so that by 1924 not only did they farm 560 acres of their own, but they also had bought and given to at least two of their children (or so we have reason to believe) 40-acre plots that served as the start of their children’s own farms.

We pick up the story in 1928 with Grandpa Chris, Grandma Malinda, and Matilda. As we explained earlier (here), the young family moved to the farm south of Lushton in March 1928, three weeks after the birth of Matilda. As far as we can tell, Peter P and Margaretha purchased the entire 160 acres at that time and apportioned it as follows: the north 80 was divided into two plots, and one was given to their daughter Anna and the other to their son Pete; the south 80 was also divided in two, with one 40-acre plot given to Grandpa and Grandma and the other purchased (presumably from Peter P and Margaretha) by Grandpa and Grandma.

The map to the right shows the relation between the Peter P and Margaretha farm to the north (top arrow) and Grandpa and Grandma’s farm a mile south of Lushton (bottom arrow). The drive between the two farm sites was right around 5 miles.

Although Grandpa and Grandma owned the south 80 acres, as explained above, they rented and farmed the north 80 acres for as long as anyone can remember. So, in 1928 they had a farm of 160 acres, counting the building site and pasture. Now that we have located Grandpa and Grandma geographically, we are ready to contextualize them historically.

Postwar Collapse

As already noted, the farm economy collapsed several years after the end of World War I in 1918, with crop prices falling rapidly and drastically (see the chart here). Prices recovered a little in 1925, but by 1928 they were in free fall once again. This was not a promising time to begin farming and start a family.

Depression and Drought

The rest of the economy followed suit beginning with the stock market crash in October 1929; whatever hope farmers had for a robust market in the country’s larger towns and cities was dashed as both the country and much of the world suffered from financial collapse, a steep decline in manufacturing, and high unemployment. Farm prices were low and were destined to stay there for quite some time.

To make matters worse, the early 1930s included several years of severe drought, sending crop yields sharply downward. It was certainly the worst possible time to build a farm and a family, but that is precisely what Grandpa and Grandma did. Between 1928 and 1941, when the Depression finally abated, they established a 160-acre farm and raised a family of eight children.

Think about it. Our immediate family was established in the midst of the worst circumstances that one could possibly imagine: a collapsed agricultural economy made worse by a depressed national and world economy, with drought, dust, and wind storms thrown in for good measure. This was the historical context in which the family of Chris and Malinda Franz Buller grew.

It is not enough to marvel at how Grandpa and Grandma succeeded against all odds (although they are worthy of our admiration and gratitude for doing so). We also want to learn all we can about the precise challenges they faced, the details of the context in which they lived. The resources listed in the last post (U.S. farm economics 4) will help us do that, since in those documents we can find records of rainfall amounts, land prices, crop yields, mortgage practices, and much more. By comparing what we learn from those records with what Grandpa and Grandma’s children remember of that time, we will fill in numerous gaps in our knowledge of the lives of the Bullers in the early twentieth century, both Peter P and Margaretha as well as Grandpa and Grandpa and their children. The next post will begin to do precisely that.