emily.anne
Poverity of Subsistence Farmers
Walker Evans. Bud Fields and His Family. (Image). _Photographs for the Farm Security Administration_. Hale County, Alabama: Da Capo Press, Summer 1936, 327.
This is a picture of a family of subsistence farmers during 1936 of the Great Depression. Subsistence farming differs from farming greatly ,for its main purpose is self- sufficiency rather than farming for a profit. It is a method of farming where whole families only plant enough food to feed the themselves. Some Crops are sold for profit, but not enough money is rendered to live off of the money made. The idea of participating in the marketplace is nonexistent.
Families of substance farming usually live in a self-made house which is typically very, very small. These houses contain holes in the walls,covered in dirt, and are not well made. As well as food, the family also produces for themselves clothes, house furnishing, and farming implements. Virtually everything they need. These families live very poor and in terms of a social class, they are on the level of poverty.
For families that live this way life is extremely difficult. It is a constant struggle to produce enough food to feed a family. Also, subsistence farmers have no education. So for these families, it is an unbroken cycle of poverty. With no education and practically no other skills besides farming, these people can do nothing else but continue on in poverty. This was common place during the Great Depression. Most lower-class families didn’t have many options when it came to surviving and had to do what they could. Especially when no jobs could be found.
This picture hold a special place for me, for my grandfather and his family were subsistence farmers. They grew up in a tiny shack covered in dirt in Mississippi. My grandmother told me the first time she saw the house she was in shock. For my family the cycle of poverty was broken through education; however, sadly, this option was not available for people of the 1930s. Families had to make due with what they could, even if that ment poverity.
Sources:
Ford, Lacey K. “Self-Sufficiency, Cotton, and Economic Development: The Task of Economic History”. Vol. 45, No. 2,. June 1985. (JSTOR). Accessed 25 July 2007.
Musson, A.E. “The Journal of Economic History”. June 1959. Vol. 19, No. 2 pp. 199-228 (JSTOR), Accessed 25 July 2007.
Waters, Tony._ The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: life beneath the level of the marketplace._ Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2007
Fore more information visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsistence_agriculture
Poverity of Subsistence Farmers
Walker Evans. Bud Fields and His Family. (Image). _Photographs for the Farm Security Administration_. Hale County, Alabama: Da Capo Press, Summer 1936, 327.
This is a picture of a family of subsistence farmers during 1936 of the Great Depression. Subsistence farming differs from farming greatly ,for its main purpose is self- sufficiency rather than farming for a profit. It is a method of farming where whole families only plant enough food to feed the themselves. Some Crops are sold for profit, but not enough money is rendered to live off of the money made. The idea of participating in the marketplace is nonexistent.
Families of substance farming usually live in a self-made house which is typically very, very small. These houses contain holes in the walls,covered in dirt, and are not well made. As well as food, the family also produces for themselves clothes, house furnishing, and farming implements. Virtually everything they need. These families live very poor and in terms of a social class, they are on the level of poverty.
For families that live this way life is extremely difficult. It is a constant struggle to produce enough food to feed a family. Also, subsistence farmers have no education. So for these families, it is an unbroken cycle of poverty. With no education and practically no other skills besides farming, these people can do nothing else but continue on in poverty. This was common place during the Great Depression. Most lower-class families didn’t have many options when it came to surviving and had to do what they could. Especially when no jobs could be found.
This picture hold a special place for me, for my grandfather and his family were subsistence farmers. They grew up in a tiny shack covered in dirt in Mississippi. My grandmother told me the first time she saw the house she was in shock. For my family the cycle of poverty was broken through education; however, sadly, this option was not available for people of the 1930s. Families had to make due with what they could, even if that ment poverity.
Sources:
Ford, Lacey K. “Self-Sufficiency, Cotton, and Economic Development: The Task of Economic History”. Vol. 45, No. 2,. June 1985. (JSTOR). Accessed 25 July 2007.
Musson, A.E. “The Journal of Economic History”. June 1959. Vol. 19, No. 2 pp. 199-228 (JSTOR), Accessed 25 July 2007.
Waters, Tony._ The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: life beneath the level of the marketplace._ Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2007
Fore more information visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsistence_agriculture