<P> The federal government issued 160 - acre (65 ha) tracts virtually free to about 400,000 families who settled new land under the Homestead Act of 1862 . Even larger numbers purchased lands at very low interest from the new railroads, which were trying to create markets . The railroads advertised heavily in Europe and brought over, at low fares, hundreds of thousands of farmers from Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain . </P> <P> The first years of the 20th century were prosperous for all American farmers . The years 1910--1914 became a statistical benchmark, called "parity", that organized farm groups wanted the government to use as a benchmark for the level of prices and profits they felt they deserved . </P> <P> Early settlers discovered that the Great Plains were not the "Great American Desert," but they also found that the very harsh climate--with tornadoes, blizzards, drought, hail, floods, and grasshoppers--made for a high risk of ruined crops . Many early settlers were financially ruined, especially in the early 1890s, and either protested through the Populist movement, or went back east . In the 20th century, crop insurance, new conservation techniques, and large - scale federal aid all lowered the risk . Immigrants, especially Germans, and their children comprised the largest element of settlers after 1860; they were attracted by the good soil, low - priced lands from the railroad companies . The railroads offered attractive Family packages . The brought in European families, with their tools, directly to the new farm, which was purchased on easy credit terms . The railroad needed settlers as much as the settlers needed farmland . Even cheaper land was available through homesteading, although it was usually not as well located as railroad land . </P> <P> The problem of blowing dust didn't come from farmers growing too much wheat but from the rainfall being too little for growing enough wheat to keep the topsoil from blowing away . In the 1930s, techniques and technologies of soil conservation, most of which had been available but ignored before the Dust Bowl conditions began, were promoted by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of the US Department of Agriculture, so that, with cooperation from the weather, soil condition was much improved by 1940 . </P>

In plantation america the crops are grown primarily for domestic consumption