Final answer:
The Great Depression was significantly influenced by the agricultural issue of overproduction of crops, which led to declining prices and soil erosion, with other contributing factors including economic strife, vetoed federal price supports, and the collapse of rural banks.
Step-by-step explanation:
Contribution of Agricultural Issues to the Great Depression
The agricultural issue most likely to have contributed to the Great Depression was overproduction of crops leading to declining prices and profits. As farmers produced more, prices continued to drop, exacerbating their economic hardships. This overproduction was facilitated by westward expansion and new farming technologies that increased yields significantly. Beyond the economic strife, this intensified farming activity caused considerable damage to the soil, influencing the ecological disaster known as the Dust Bowl. Moreover, cultivations expanded without concern for the long-term health of the land, leading to soil erosion and degradation.
Efforts to alleviate the situation, such as federal price supports, were often vetoed, and farmers were left to default on their loans, further accelerating the collapse of rural banks. The subsequent recession of 1921 and the end of government support after WWI caused a steep decline in commodity prices, like the price of wheat in 1929 which plummeted from two dollars to forty cents a bushel. These compounded issues of economic contraction, coupled with environmental calamities, strategically positioned agriculture's downfall at the center of the sparking mechanisms for the Great Depression.