Utah’s Agriculture in the Great

Depression
By.Tanner Critchlow
Cause of the Depression

When the depression was starting and people began to worry the mayor at the
time John Bowman stated “the hard times would soon pass and merge into a
period of unprecedented prosperity” which caused many to stop worrying about it.
The depression though hoped to be short and easy was the opposite it lasted
many years and caused many hardships
Women in the Field

The photo of the women in her field was taken in the early 1930s when the depression hit
utah. Utah was a very rural town that had much relying on agriculture for the economy
and food. The Mormon Church speaks a lot about being prepared in events like the great
Depression but despite that Utah was one of the states hit the hardest.
Utah’s Financials

Many people were in a very tough situation with the prices of livestock and produce
rising. The weather conditions made it so that the supply dropped as the demand rose
causing many families to begin to starve and have to scrap for food. The banks also
began to shut down cause mass panic and a race to get what they could out causing the
Church to post an important note saying that Zions bank wouldn’t close and that
everything is fine.
Agriculture Prices

Farm income in Utah dropped 60 percent and the farms began to decrease when the
number reached about 30,000 it began to drop fast and people sold their land in order to
get enough money to buy food so they didn’t starve as the food in utah got affected by
the weather changes causing food to die. There was one thing that gave some people
relief and that was bees many began to get hives to make, eat, sell honey. That was one
of the reasons that Utah got the nickname of the beehive state.
Agricultural Growth

In 1933 during the spring farmers began to produce more and in doing so the
economy saw growth. Farmers were one of the biggest contributors to growing
the economy because without them food was very scarce. During that spring utah
began to grow again showing hope for a lot of people.
Work Cited
● Jensen, David “The Face of Utah During the Great Depression” Utah Stories December 1st,
2006 https://utahstories.com/2016/12/the-face-of-utah-during-the-great-depression/
● N/A “Changes & Challenges (1920s-1930s): Agricultural Hard Times and The Great
Depression” Utah Agriculture in the Classroom, No date told.
https://utah.agclassroom.org/lessons/cc1920/#:~:text=The%20agricultural%20problems%
20of%20the,of%2030%2C000%2C%20began%20to%20decline.
● N/A “A Look Back: Utah during the Great Depression” Salt Lake Tribune November 29, 2013
https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57180581&itype=cmsid
● McCormick, John S.”The Great Depression” History to Go 1994
https://historytogo.utah.gov/great-depression/
● Smith, Tyler “As farmers go, so does the nation” American Economic Association March 25,
2019 https://www.aeaweb.org/research/farmer-recovery-great-depression