In the summer of 1816, often referred to as the "Year Without a Summer," Northern Hemisphere weather patterns were severely disrupted by the massive 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. The volcanic debris injected into the stratosphere blocked solar radiation, causing average global temperatures to drop. In New England, this sudden cooling led to repeated summer frosts that decimated staple crops such as corn. Consequently, farmers were forced to rely on more resilient, though previously underutilized, grains like rye and spelt. This agricultural shift, in turn, altered local culinary traditions, as bakers adapted their recipes to accommodate the dense, low-gluten flour produced from these alternative grains. Furthermore, because corn was the primary feed for livestock, its scarcity precipitated a widespread reduction in herd sizes, as farmers could not afford to sustain their animals through the winter. This forced cull temporarily flooded local markets with cheap meat, masking the long-term economic hardship that would follow when livestock populations failed to recover in subsequent years.
According to the passage, the temporary flooding of New England markets with cheap meat was directly caused by which of the following?
- AA reduction in livestock herd sizes that was brought about by the flooding of local markets with cheap meat.
- BA shift in culinary traditions toward using dense, low-gluten flour, which reduced the need for livestock farming.
- Farmers being forced to reduce their herd sizes because they could not afford to feed livestock through the winter.Answer
- DThe long-term recovery of livestock populations in the years immediately following the volcanic eruption.