Reading Comprehension

The years between 1930 and 1936 are often referred to as the Dust Bowl era due to severe dust storms that caused major ecological and agricultural damage to 100,000,000 acres of farmland in the American south and Midwest. During these years, hundreds of thousands of farmers fled their homes, often following famous transnational highway Route 66 to California in search of employment and better living conditions, both of which proved elusive. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California.

The fact that dust storms destroyed so much farmland often leads to the assumption that farmers were forced to leave land that had become agriculturally useless, which in turn leads to the conclusion that farmers, although they were loath to go, left their farms voluntarily. Another factor, however, is often overlooked: the Farm Security Administration (FSA) seized operative farms from farmers who, because of dire economic circumstances during the Great Depression, could no longer pay taxes on their land. The FSA set up subsistence homestead communities, in which groups of displaced farmers and their families lived together and worked a common piece of land under the supervision of FSA agricultural experts. The Dust Bowl was largely a man-made disaster, caused by farmers' deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains, which killed the natural grasses that normally kept soil in place and moisture trapped even during periods of drought and high winds. Thus, part of the reason why the FSA refused to allow farmers to remain on their land was the fear that, without guidance from agricultural experts, farmers would return to the farming practices that were responsible for the Dust Bowl.

One purpose of the subsistence homestead communities was to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing, and other sustainable farming practices. Critics strongly opposed the FSA's subsistence communities, equating them to Soviet experiments in collectivized agriculture, and the FSA ultimately failed in its original goals because farmers wanted to return to their land, not to work a piece of government-owned property. After the bipartisan Conservative Coalition, which included southern Democrats gained control of Congress in 1937, the FSA was transformed into a program designed to help poor farmers buy back their land, and continues to operate as the Farmers' Home Administration



The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) Explain why farmers from the Great Plains region left their farms during the Dust Bowl era.
(B) Describe the environmental and man-made causes underlying the Dust Bowl.
(C) Describe the subsistence homestead communities created by the FSA.
(D) Discuss the ramifications of the forced eviction of farmers during the Dust Bowl.
(E) Explain why the Conservative Coalition opposed the FSA

Please give reasons ..I selected A thinking that passage gives us an additional information on the role played by FSA in the removal of farmers from their farms.

OA D

I think the answer is C.

I think the answer has to be D...
If you consider C as the answer...C describes subsistence homestead communities that are mentioned only in the second paragraph and third but does not capture the entire passage..
Instead a more general answer is present...
In B, ramifications means a development or consequences growing out of a problem and sometimes complicating the problem....I think this has happened in the entire second paragraph...The first line of the first paragraph also states the same...major ecological and agricultural damage due to Dust Bowl...
Forced eviction: To recover (property, for example) by a superior claim or legal process,...This is what FSA did....seized operative farms from farmers...
So, I think D captures the essence of the entire passage and should be the answer...
Regarding you selecting answer choice A: A mentions whatever has happened in the second paragraph...
Every passage has one important point, a message that author wants to give us...In this case, the message is, The dust bowl occurred in 1930-1936 that caused major ecological and agricultural damage...and then author goes on to explain these damages and what causes these damages....

My vote for D
OA plz.

saurabhmahajan wrote:My vote for D
OA plz.

one more for D.

"------The fact that dust storms destroyed so much farmland often leads to the assumption that farmers were forced to leave land that had become agriculturally useless, which in turn leads to the conclusion that farmers, although they were loath to go, left their farms voluntarily.--"

@kaulnikhil:

Lets analyze the paragraphs once, in as short as possible.

para1: The dust bowl era
para2: forced eviction of farmers, FSA and homestead communities
para3: Failure of FSA's and its transformation, buying back of farms

If you notice, the primary purpose is clearly the ramifications of the
forceful eviction of farmers. hence Choice D.


the passage certainly speaks a lot about the FSA and its forceful eviction
of farmers but it also speaks about the change that it goes through and
the farmers and the farms. The larger picture holds FSA as a part of it.

Hope it helps.

D is the answer for me.

I am not satisfied by any explanation offered so far . I request that some expert come up and amswer this question.There is a lot more expert activity on the maths questions sent every day

kaulnikhil wrote:The years between 1930 and 1936 are often referred to as the Dust Bowl era due to severe dust storms that caused major ecological and agricultural damage to 100,000,000 acres of farmland in the American south and Midwest. During these years, hundreds of thousands of farmers fled their homes, often following famous transnational highway Route 66 to California in search of employment and better living conditions, both of which proved elusive. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the plains states; of those, 200,000 moved to California.

The fact that dust storms destroyed so much farmland often leads to the assumption that farmers were forced to leave land that had become agriculturally useless, which in turn leads to the conclusion that farmers, although they were loath to go, left their farms voluntarily. Another factor, however, is often overlooked: the Farm Security Administration (FSA) seized operative farms from farmers who, because of dire economic circumstances during the Great Depression, could no longer pay taxes on their land. The FSA set up subsistence homestead communities, in which groups of displaced farmers and their families lived together and worked a common piece of land under the supervision of FSA agricultural experts. The Dust Bowl was largely a man-made disaster, caused by farmers' deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains, which killed the natural grasses that normally kept soil in place and moisture trapped even during periods of drought and high winds. Thus, part of the reason why the FSA refused to allow farmers to remain on their land was the fear that, without guidance from agricultural experts, farmers would return to the farming practices that were responsible for the Dust Bowl.

One purpose of the subsistence homestead communities was to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing, and other sustainable farming practices. Critics strongly opposed the FSA's subsistence communities, equating them to Soviet experiments in collectivized agriculture, and the FSA ultimately failed in its original goals because farmers wanted to return to their land, not to work a piece of government-owned property. After the bipartisan Conservative Coalition, which included southern Democrats gained control of Congress in 1937, the FSA was transformed into a program designed to help poor farmers buy back their land, and continues to operate as the Farmers' Home Administration

The primary purpose of the passage is to: The correct answer should be supported by every paragraph.

(A) Explain why farmers from the Great Plains region left their farms during the Dust Bowl era. Not discussed in paragraph 3, which focuses on the failure of the FSA program.
(B) Describe the environmental and man-made causes underlying the Dust Bowl. Not discussed in paragraph 3.
(C) Describe the subsistence homestead communities created by the FSA. Discussed primarily in paragraph 2, not at all in paragraph 1.
(D) Discuss the ramifications of the forced eviction of farmers during the Dust Bowl.
Paragraph 1: ...fled their homes...in search of employment and better living conditions, both of which proved elusive.
Paragraph 2: The FSA set up subsistence homestead communities, in which groups of displaced farmers and their families lived together and worked a common piece of land under the supervision of FSA agricultural experts.
Paragraph 3: ...the FSA ultimately failed in its original goals because farmers wanted to return to their land...
(E) Explain why the Conservative Coalition opposed the FSA Not addressed in paragraphs 1 or 2.

Hi Mitch, Thanks for the straw . This was a nice tool which 1 can follow.I hope this can be applicable to most of the RC's right? The primary purpose of the passage is to: The correct answer should be supported by every paragraph.
U are a life saver . I hope i can tackle the other Rcs similarly .
This is because i have been getting 40 % of my RC responses wrong regularly . Are all the GMAT Rcs designed to have a mention of the purpose of passage in each para. Can it not be possible that the 1st para makes ground for the purposes which the passage will arrive at later .

mundasingh123 wrote:Hi Mitch, Thanks for the straw . This was a nice tool which 1 can follow.I hope this can be applicable to most of the RC's right? The primary purpose of the passage is to: The correct answer should be supported by every paragraph.
U are a life saver . I hope i can tackle the other Rcs similarly .
This is because i have been getting 40 % of my RC responses wrong regularly . Are all the GMAT Rcs designed to have a mention of the purpose of passage in each para. Can it not be possible that the 1st para makes ground for the purposes which the passage will arrive at later .

I totally agree with you that this approach will be a life saver for such type of questions.Just want a confirmation for the usage of the same..
thanks Mitch

nipunkathuria wrote:

mundasingh123 wrote:Hi Mitch, Thanks for the straw . This was a nice tool which 1 can follow.I hope this can be applicable to most of the RC's right? The primary purpose of the passage is to: The correct answer should be supported by every paragraph.
U are a life saver . I hope i can tackle the other Rcs similarly .
This is because i have been getting 40 % of my RC responses wrong regularly . Are all the GMAT Rcs designed to have a mention of the purpose of passage in each para. Can it not be possible that the 1st para makes ground for the purposes which the passage will arrive at later .

I totally agree with you that this approach will be a life saver for such type of questions.Just want a confirmation for the usage of the same..
thanks Mitch

Generally, the correct answer to a primary purpose/main idea question should be supported by every paragraph. In the passage above, every paragraph contributes to answer choice D: a discussion of the ramifications of the forced evictions. The incorrect answer choices contain ideas that are supported only by individual paragraphs, not by the whole passage.

This does not mean that the correct answer choice will be stated explicitly in every paragraph. But every paragraph should support the concept expressed in the correct answer choice.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

nipunkathuria wrote:

mundasingh123 wrote:Hi Mitch, Thanks for the straw . This was a nice tool which 1 can follow.I hope this can be applicable to most of the RC's right? The primary purpose of the passage is to: The correct answer should be supported by every paragraph.
U are a life saver . I hope i can tackle the other Rcs similarly .
This is because i have been getting 40 % of my RC responses wrong regularly . Are all the GMAT Rcs designed to have a mention of the purpose of passage in each para. Can it not be possible that the 1st para makes ground for the purposes which the passage will arrive at later .

I totally agree with you that this approach will be a life saver for such type of questions.Just want a confirmation for the usage of the same..
thanks Mitch

Generally, the correct answer to a primary purpose/main idea question should be supported by every paragraph. In the passage above, every paragraph contributes to answer choice D: a discussion of the ramifications of the forced evictions. The incorrect answer choices contain ideas that are supported only by individual paragraphs, not by the whole passage.

This does not mean that the correct answer choice will be stated explicitly in every paragraph. But every paragraph should support the concept expressed in the correct answer choice.

Thanks! What you said totally makes sense and should help us able to answer such questions with relative ease.

Answer is A

Generally, the correct answer to a primary purpose/main idea question should be supported by every paragraph. In the passage above, every paragraph contributes to answer choice D: a discussion of the ramifications of the forced evictions. The incorrect answer choices contain ideas that are supported only by individual paragraphs, not by the whole passage.

This does not mean that the correct answer choice will be stated explicitly in every paragraph. But every paragraph should support the concept expressed in the correct answer choice.

This is an interesting way of looking at main idea questions. Will try this the next time I practice RCs which is this afternoon