Consequences of New Technologies

Many homesteaders had to go into debt to acquire the new agricultural tools and used their farms as collateral. With so many farmers using the new technologies, crop production substantially increased. Before long, overproduction occurred, driving down the price of food crops as well as farmers’ profits. Declining profits made it difficult for some farmers to repay their loans and resulted in the repossession of their homesteads by banks. Their financial situation would later be worsened by their inability to grow anything on the depleted soil as a result of the overuse of the dry farming method.