Farmers lost their livelihoods and their homes as a result of the massive dust storms. The Dust Bowl farmers' condition was made worse by the Depression's deflation. Prices for the crops they could cultivate dropped below the standard of subsistence. The Great Depression was exacerbated by the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl, also known as "the Dirty Thirties," began in 1930 and lasted only a decade, but the region's long-term economic effects lasted even longer. In 1930, the Midwest and Southern Great Plains were struck by a severe drought. Massive dust storms first appeared in 1931.
