The dust bowl
I read a book a long time ago called out of the dust by Karen Hesse. It is about a young girl and is a good read, as long as you forget that the book is historical fiction and someone could have gotten killed by it, could have lived that way.
This novel was written to describe the horrible conditions the dust bowl was under. It was a horrible, terrifying hell, which is why so many people left States such as Oklahoma, where this book is set.
The people left not only for economic hatdships, but also for pure terror of being caught in a large wind, blowing enough topsoil to suffocate a person.
There were many things that the United States did to change this, and those things worked, such as using:
Cover crops
Drip irrigation
And other means of keeping the topsoil where it is supposed to be- on top of the soil, not in the air. Many of the ideas with sustainable farming keep topsoil where it is supposed to be, which is a great resin to switch to sustainable farming.

Out of the dust, Karen Hesse