During the late nineteenth century American farmers faced difficulties due to industrialization, westward expansion, railroads monopolization and new farm tools that increased productivity.
New farm tools made productivity increase, and with an increased productivity the prices started to decline but farmers didn't knew that and they thought that they had to produce more to gain more, so the more they produced, the lower the prices fell and in addition high tariffs were increasing due to the gold vs silver issue of the US currency, so products they had to buy as supplies and goods became more expensive, this is why farmers started to accumulate huge debts while they were working non stop. Farmers payed inflated prices and received lower income, this caused social organizations like the Populist movement and the Farmers Alliance to rise.
