THE DUST BOWL IN THE 1970s

ABSTRACT Major droughts in the Grassland region of the central United States have occurred rhythmically during the period of instrumental record. The time for the next one may be near. Early droughts disastrously reduced farm income through loss of crops and livestock. Since the 1930s they have accelerated—within this region—contemporary basic changes in America: fewer, bigger, and more fragmented farms, public controls and subsidies, consolidation of urban business and services, and greater management. The next major drought will again accelerate long-term agricultural trends, but a sharp increase in urban federal assistance is likely, and revolutionary changes in settlement could be initiated. The Grassland is a unique interaction zone between physical and human circulation systems. It has long attracted geographers of widely varied interests. Their collective works illustrate the importance of combining concept, technique, and specific regional problem in fashioning geography's contribution to the scientific quest.