Page 161 - SST Class 07

3. What makes the prairies the granaries of the world?
4. What is a ranch? What is the function of cowboys?
5. Compare the wildlife in prairies and velds.
6. What is mixed farming?

1. How is the different variety of wildlife found in the temperate grasslands linked to the climate and
the landscape?
2. What are the factors responsible for the development of the veld region?

Dust Bowl

By the middle of twentieth century, nearly all the North American prairie grasslands had been destroyed
due to extensive farming. The result was miles and miles of soil with no strong prairie grass to hold it in
place, and few trees to block the wind. When drought, a period of little rain, struck the prairie in the
1930s, high winds blew the dry soil into huge, frequent dust storms, devastating the Great Plains. The
Great Plains were called the Dust Bowl during the Great
Depression period. The seed of Dust Bowl may have been sowed
during the early 1920s. A post World War I recession led farmers
to try new mechanised farming techniques as a way to increase
profits. With the help of mechanised farming, farmers produced
record crops during the 1931 season. However, over production
of wheat coupled with the Great Depression led to severely
reduced market prices.

Life in Temperate Grasslands
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