Final answer:
The name given to the farmers who moved to the American Great Plains and utilized modern farm machines to make the Great American Desert productive for agriculture is sodbusters.
Step-by-step explanation:
The name given to the farmers who moved to the American Great Plains and utilized modern farm machines to make the Great American Desert productive for agriculture is sodbusters. These settlers, also known as homesteaders, faced a difficult life on the frontier due to the harsh weather and environment. Lacking local timber, many farmers built their homesteads from slabs of grassland, which is how they derived their namesake.