Why The American Farmer Fought In The First World War?

At the beginning of the Great War Europe and Russia wasn't producing enough food for their people, so, food administrator, Herbet Hoover asked the American Farmers to increase their yields to assist. With this increase Farmers were buying more land, more equipment and hiring more hands to tend to the ever growing farms. However, after the Great War Europe and Russia slowly started to produce for themselves and didn't need the American Farmer as much. Even though the need wasn't present the American Farmer kept the high yields in hopes to pay off debts. With the prices of wheat, corn and other crops falling, the debts were going unpaid causing many to lose their farms to bankruptcy or foreclosure. Some farmers were able to become tenant farmers while others had to go to the City to look for work. The plight of the farmers, sharecroppers and farm workers only continued to get worse as the years progressed as there became less and less farms and workable farm lands.
As the production rose, the American farmer went to the banks looking for loans to assist them in acquiring new farmland. Farmers also used the loans to buy new equipment--especially tractors due to labor costs-- thinking that with the high crop prices they would be able to afford the loans they put up against their farms. They were right in thinking this as corn and wheat prices increased heavily during the war time years leading up to the Great Depression. In 1913, harvesting more than 50 million acres of wheat got farmers $0.79 per bushel. And again in 1919, 75.7 million acres were harvested for a price of $2.14 per