The Dust Bowl Effects

On a beautiful Sunday morning, you and your family go out to do your daily chores, then get ready for church, little do you know that later in the day, the temperatures will drop, the birds will begin chattering nervously, and all of the sudden a huge black cloud of dust appears on the horizon, coming straight for you... This is an eyewitness account of J.R. Davison, a homestead owner in Oklahoma. But it didn’t only affect him, this is what everyone in Oklahoma, and the rest of the heartland experienced on April 14, 1935, better known as Black Sunday, the worst dust storm during the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl started when agriculturalists removed the majority of native grasses in order to start golden fields of wheat and corn, consequently,
Currently, with drought conditions across the nation, water is being trucked and piped out from the Ogallala water aquifer, which provides 90 percent of the water used for agriculture in the Midwest. Due to this the water is being depleting in many areas of the aquifer, increasing the chances of another major water shortage in the near future. The aquifer is being depleted by more than just people needing to shower and cook in California, Nevada, and Oregon, but also the amount of crops that occupy soil, which is unfit for the amount of pressure put upon it. For this reason researchers and farmers alike are looking for possible solutions to prevent this potentially economical and ecological quagmire from taking place. One viable solution is to introduce superabsorbent polymers into the soil used for agriculture, which can drastically reduce the chances of another major drought like the one in the 1930s.
Today I will be sharing with you what super absorbent polymers are, how they support the soil and plants, and how they can be
With this in mind the challenge presented to agriculturalists is to feed a current population of 7 billion people and an estimated 9.6 billion people by 2050 all the while not consuming the amount of water needed for urban and environmental survival. Continuing in this line we shall look at the benefits of SAPs in our drying states. Using SAPs could be the answer to prevent agriculture from over using water that is also needed for human consumption. According to another study done by Doctor Dehkordi the largest limiting factor of plant growth is the stress that drought puts upon the plants. Taking into consideration the efficiency of SAPs to gather and store water, this way of water-saving agriculture is possibly the most vital practice required for the sustainable development of human