During early European and American exploration of the American and Canadian prairies (semi-arid), this region was thought unsuitable for European-style agriculture.

The beginning of the 20th century’s return of unusually wet weather seemingly confirmed previously held opinion that “formerly” semiarid areas could support large-scale agriculture. During the decades previous to 1932, farmers conducted extensive deep plowing of virgin prairie-flowering topsoil; this cut and exposed roots of native prairie plants that normally trapped soil and moisture, even during periods of drought and high winds, and laid the soil bare.

Rapid mechanization of farm equipment, especially small gasoline tractors, and widespread use of combine-harvesters contributed to farmers’ decisions to convert arid grassland to cultivated crop-land.

But in 1930, drought returned. During the 1930s, unanchored soil turned to dust, which prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust (occasionally with visibility less than 3 feet), named “black blizzards” or “black rollers”, traveled cross-country, reaching as far as the East Coast and striking such cities as New York City and Washington, D.C.

Dust was noticed in Western Europe (in the Northern Hemisphere predominant wind is west to east). Animals and people died of “dust pneumonia.” Dust was pervasive; ceilings of houses collapsed from the weight of dust in attics. Farmers were reluctant to leave because everything they had was invested in their farms.

Some did leave, taking with them what they could: their lives. Between 1930 and 1940, about 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states. Dust storms of intensity lasted from about 1932-40. One estimate of the mass of topsoil removed was 1.2 billion tons (1,200 times the mass of the world’s largest warship, Gerald R. Ford).

On May 1, 2023, multiple crashes occurred on Interstate 55 near the Sangamon/Montgomery County line due to blowing dust, reducing visibility to near zero. Illinois State Police reported 72 vehicles involved. There were seven fatalities and 37 people were injured. Dust originated from freshly tilled and planted farm fields. Apparently, no-till practice was not used.

On May 16, 2025, a dust storm developed in central Illinois near Bloomington and Champaign and raced northeastward into the Chicago metropolitan area. The storm was caused by strong winds that picked up dust as they swept across dry farmland, which quickly amassed into an expansive dust plume. Visibility dropped to near zero.

Researchers believe that the corn and soybean rotation that dominates Midwestern farming is at least partially to blame – replacing the grasses that gave the Prairie State its nickname with crop rotations that don’t hold the soil in place, and a steady stream of fertilizers and pesticides doesn’t help. (Capitol News Illinois, Sept. 5, 2025)

Erosion from wind and water annually robs our nation’s farms of billions of tons of soil. U.S. farms are currently losing twice as much topsoil to erosion per year as the Great Plains lost in a typical year at the height of the 1930s Dust Bowl.

When soil is left bare and becomes damaged and depleted – dry, compacted, and low in organic matter, then wind and water can more easily displace it. Results can be catastrophic, as the Great Plains region of the central United States discovered in the 1930s. But even small changes year after year can gradually cause big problems.

Erosion remains a serious long-term threat, as wind and water continue to carry off soil faster than it can be regenerated. Soil loss continues at a rate that threatens farm legacies. These erosion rates are one of the reasons why, from 1982 to 2015, the area of prime farmland as defined by the National Resource Conservation Service shrank by 25.8 million acres – that’s roughly the size of the state of Ohio. Cumulative average soil loss on U.S. cropland by 2100 could range anywhere from about 2.5 inches to over 5 inches.

Healthy soils not only make farms more climate-resilient, but they can also help keep costs for farmers and taxpayers down in multiple ways. The need for costly nitrogen fertilizer is reduced, both because healthy soil is richer in nutrients to begin with and because improved water retention means less fertilizer lost to runoff. Less fertilizer runoff means less water pollution, which reduces cleanup costs for public water supplies and recreation areas downstream from farm areas.

Less runoff means a reduction in algae blooms that annually turn huge areas of waterways like the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay into “dead zones,” seriously damaging fisheries.

- Henry Tideman, Oregon