Answer:
Advantages
(i) The new machines helped in breaking the hard ground with tractors and
disk ploughs in clearing vast streaches for wheat cultivation.
(ii) The mechanical reaper invented by Cyrus McCormick
could cut in 1 day as much as 5 men could cut with cradles and 16 men with
sickles.
With one of these machines, 500 acres of wheat could be
harvested in 2 weeks. With power driven machinery, 4 men could plough, seed and
harvest 2000 to 4000 acres of wheat in a season.
Disadvantages
(i) Unemployment Introduction of machines reduced
the need for labour leading to unemployment on a large-scale.
(ii) Unpaid Debts Many poor farmers in the USA had
bought machines by taking loans from banks, but due to increased production
there was surplus of food grains and storehouses overflowed.
Prices fell, export collapsed, leading to an Agrarian Depression,
due to which the farmers could not pay back the bank lo So, they deserted their
farms and looked for jobs elsewhere.
(iii) Dust Bowl To expand cultivation, tractors had
turned the soil over and broken the sod into dust.
Over a period of time, overuse turned the whole region
into a dust bowl, leading to terrifying dust storms called 'Black Blizzard'
which blinded and choked the people; the animals were suffocated to death. The
rivers were coated with dust and the fish died. Tractors and machines were
clogged with dust and there was a huge damage to life and property.
You need to login to perform this action.
You will be redirected in
3 sec