What were the advantages and disadvantages of the use of mechanical harvesting machines in the USA?
The advantages and disadvantages of the use of mechanical harvesting machines in the USA are mentioned below:
Advantages:
(i) It saved the use of physical labour and increased agricultural output. For example, the mechanical reaper could cut in a day as much as five men could cut with cradles and 16 men with sickles.
(ii) The new machines allowed big farmers to clear large forests, break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the land for cultivation. With power-driven machinery, man could plough seed and harvest 2000 to 4000 acres of wheat in a season.
(iii) The USA became one of the largest producers and exporters of wheat in the world.
(iv) It also led to the encouragement of trade and commerce. It brought about a period of plenty and prosperity for America and their people.
Disadvantages:
(i) Poor labourers had to face the loss of jobs and starvation because single machine could do the work of scores of labourers.
(ii) For the poor farmers, machines brought misery. Many of them took bank loans to buy machines. They could not pay back their debt and deserted their farms.
(iii) The boom of late 19th and early 20th centuries came to an end in 1920. There was a large surplus of foodgrains Wheat prices failed and export markets collapsed. All these ultimately led to the Great Agrarian Depression of the 1930s.
(iv) The expansion of wheat agriculture also led to the Dust Bowl.
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