When looking at the challenges faced by farmers in the Gilded Age, it is important to examine how agriculture was evolving. New technologies of the era provided farmers with the opportunity to grow more crops. In the first half of the 1800s we began to see the introduction of new equipment like the steel plow and the mechanical reaper. New inventions such as these made it possible for farmers to grow and harvest more crops and to do so much faster than they had been able to in the past. Additionally, one must also take into account the development of new, faster forms of transportation, such as railroads. As all of these new inventions became more common in society, the nature of agriculture underwent changes.

First, new tools allowed for farmers to farm larger plots of land. This meant greater production in the agricultural industry. Greater production, when it isn't met with equally increasing demands, will lead to a drop in price. This is a simple example of supply and demand.

Additionally, improvements in transportation through railroads encouraged farmers to begin farming land that was not located near major cities or rivers that could get their products to market quickly. A farmer could now be located quite far from rivers and cities and still get their goods to markets quickly by putting them on a train. This led to the growth of farming in areas that had previously not been so popular due to their distance from markets. This added to more farming, and thus overproduction in the market.

Due to the great overproduction in agriculture that occurred in the years following the Civil War, the prices farmers could charge for the crops fell (supply rises, demand remains the same, price decreases). This created a system where farmers earned less money, even though they were farming more land and growing more crops. This made farming less profitable and led to many farmers leaving the countryside and moving to cities in search of manufacturing jobs.

In the information above you can see that there was an overproduction of agricultural goods in the Gilded Age, and that this led to a decline in pricing of farm goods. The correct answer of the choices you have provided would thus be B.

Of the options that you have given us, the only possible answer is B.  This was a major problem that helped to cause farmers to want to create things like the Grange.

A cannot be right because overpricing of products is not likely to be a problem for a producer.  C cannot be right because farmers actually wanted inflation.  They wanted the government to weaken the dollar by allowing the coinage of silver.  This would have made it easier for them to pay off their debts.  Given that A and C are wrong, D must also be wrong.

Overproduction and underpricing was a real problem.  Low prices for farm products means farmers can't make much money.  This makes it hard for them to pay off debts and make a living.  Therefore, B is the right answer.