..Tough as it was during the depression years, some folks had it even tougher..

[ironglow]

.
    The 'dust bowl' of the 1930s.....   How would the people of today handle the same situation ?

    https://www.vintag.es/2017/10/20-vintage-photographs-captured-scenes.html

[Dee]

They'd starve, cause moving to California like many dust bowlers did, ain't much of an option now.

[ironglow]

.
  Yes; sadly..succor from that direction, has flown away..  I wonder... is it possible that some who are descended from the dust bowl folks..have turned out leftist

  Or like many, did tough times instill good sense into them..

[Dee]

Most of the dust bowlers have died of old age. The descendants don't know anymore about it than what you've read.

I've listened to stories of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, ect of what it was like out here then, but the dust storms out here now, don't compare.

We're in another drought now, but farming practices have changed considerably since then.

[mcbammer]

 I heard they could tell by the color of the  dirt in the  storms which  state it originated from .

[Bob Riebe]

With modern farming practices again putting greed over common sense, it could happen to a degree; up here they are once again planting fence row to fence row BUT the fences rows are being ripped out as are little wet spots in fields that are as large as the three to four farmsteads that have been ripped out also.

I remember well when this hit in the eighties dry and warm years, worse than last year and lasted for several years; I was driving to school in mid-winter and on several locations on the highway, you turned your headlights on as the dust clouds were blowing across the highway.
You slowed down to thirty miles an hour as you could not see a car thirty feet infront of you.

Another prolonged drought could bring that back up here in the blink of an eye.

[billy_56081]

I remember the snirt blowing across the road and drifts of topsoil in the ditches come spring. The chisel plowing and rippers have helped a bit with that.

[Dee]

The planting here now is mostly "no till planters".
They'll harvest a crop, then go in and plant the next crop right behind it, without plowing.

[ironglow]

.
   The no-till planting is starting here in a big way also.  We rarely get serious drought years here, more often it is the reverse.  No till planting, seems to be very beneficial in every way.

  I do wonder about the Ogalala aquifer, since it seems the midwest is using the water, faster than it can be replaced..

[Dee]

The Ogallala Aquifer is in steady decline. The biggest user here is enormous commercial daries that run 3 to 5 carousels milking hundreds of cows 24 hours 7 days a week.

[ironglow]

The Ogallala Aquifer is in steady decline. The biggest user here is enormous commercial daries that run 3 to 5 carousels milking hundreds of cows 24 hours 7 days a week.

  We have some of those giant dairies around here...and I continually marvel at their logistics..18 wheeler tank trucks, hauling away manure all day long, milk tank trucks going the other way and how do they store 7&ship all that fodder?

   Then consider the water needed for thousands of cows..24/7 !!!
   

[ironglow]

.
  Farm consolidation...

  My old veterinary friend now retired, tells of one highway near here (rt16), where he called upon about a 40 mile stretch.  There were about 100 farms along that stretch...now down to 2-3 farms, but all that land is being cultivated..

  The Amish atre taking the tougher, clay soil farms, which are more labor-intensive.  Actually, it looks like more Amish are moving away from farming and toward businesses.