How did farmers contribute to the problems that led to the dustbowl?

Mainly their lack of erosion-countering methods such as crop rotation, fallowing fields, and cover cropping. The most common tillage method was plowing, which left the soil completely exposed to the power of the wind, especially during and following the drought that started in 1934. It is now believed that the dustbowl conditions created even helped to continue the drought, because incoming weather systems simply evaporated over the dry countryside.