History of Agriculture in the U.S.

The agricultural history of the U.S. is long and complex. Until 1860 most Americans lived on farms--as late as the 1930s one fourth lived on farms. The United States had vast stretches of farmland, varying in quality from very good to poor, plus even larger amounts of rangelands.

Railroad Age: 1860-1910

A dramatic expansion in farming took place. The number of farms tripled from 2.0 million in 1860 to 6.0 million in 1905. The number of people living on farms grew from about 10 million in 1860 to 22 million in 1880 to 31 million in 1905. The value of farms soared from $8.0 billion in 1860 to $30 billion in 1906.

The federal government issued 160 acre (64 ha) tracts virtually free to settlers under the Homestead Act of 1862. Even larger numbers purchased lands at very low interest from the new railroads, which were trying to create markets. The railroads advertised heavily in Europe and brought over, at low fares, hundreds of thousands of farmers from Germany, Scandinavia and Britain.

West of the 100th meridian, where there was too little rain for farming, cattle ranching became important. Overland cattle drives took large hers from Texas to the railheads in Kansas. A few thousand Indians resisted, notably the Sioux, who were reluctant to settle on reservations, but most Indians themselves became ranch hands and cowboys.

Mechanization 1910 - 1930

Nordin and Scott (2005) explore the transformation of the Midwestern Corn Belt, the area dedicated to corn, soybeans, cattle and hogs stretching across 12 states from Ohio westward. They argue that the key to reshaping Corn Belt agriculture was the turn to technology in the face of low commodity prices and intense competition, which "drove the least progressive individuals off the land" (p. xv). Even though this competition entailed tremendous suffering, the authors conclude that most Americans, including those who left the farm, ultimately benefited. From 1900 to 1920, the region experienced a golden age of relatively high commodity and land prices; however, only those who sold out at high prices and moved to town actually benefited, while those remained paid higher mortgages, rents and taxes. The Extension service run by the state agriculure schools began teaching farmers new techniques. The Model T and the tractor brought new poer to farmers, and made access easier to town and railheads. But in 1920 commodity prices plunged hurting those farmers who had expanded too aggressively during World War I. The result was a mobilization of farmers who demanded federal aid but were turned down in the 1920s, but gained the help they wanted from the New Deal. See McNary-Haugen

Great Depression and War: 1930-1945

High tech farming

Since 1950 high technology has made massive gains in productivity using new machinery, new hybrids for corn, wheat and rice, and the systematic use of genetic engineering, chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers and drugs. A backlash has created a growing natural foods movement in which the use of chemicals and drugs is strictly limited. The acreage in farms has grown little, but small operators are selling out to their neighbors leading to increased farm size. The farms are largely run by families, who often have contracts with large corporations. In the 21st century a drive to use ethanol as an automotive fuel led to new demands for grains.

Bibliography

Surveys

• Cochrane, Willard W. The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis (1993)
• Fite, Gilbert C. American Farmers: The New Minority (U of Indiana Press, 1981)
• Hurt, R. Douglas. American Agriculture: A Brief History (2002)
• Mundlak, Yair. "Economic Growth: Lessons from Two Centuries of American Agriculture." Journal of Economic Literature 2005 43(4): 989-1024. Issn: 0022-0515 Fulltext: in Ebsco
• Russell, Howard. A Long Deep Furrow: Three Centuries of Farming In New England (1981)
• John T Schlebecker. Whereby we thrive: A history of American farming, 1607-1972 (1972)

Before 1775

• Bidwell, Percy and Falconer, John I. History of Agriculture in the Northern United States 1620-1860 (1941)
• Allan Kulikoff, From British Peasants to Colonial American Farmers (1992)
• Galenson, David. “The Settlement and Growth of the Colonies,” in Stanley L. Engerman and Robert E. Gallman (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of the United States: Volume I, The Colonial Era (1996).

1775-1860: North

• Bidwell, Percy and Falconer, John I. History of Agriculture in the Northern United States 1620-1860 (1941)

1775-1860: South

• Gray, Lewis Cecil. History of Agriculture in the Southern United States to 1860. 2 vol (1933), classic in-depth history
• Genovese, Eugene. Roll, Jordan Roll (1967), the history of plantation slavery

1860-1920

• Fite, Gilbert C. The Farmers' Frontier: 1865-1900 (1966)
• Fred Albert Shannon. Farmer's Last Frontier: Agriculture, 1860-1897 (1945) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=59123553 comprehensive coverage

Since 1920

• Dean, Virgil W. An Opportunity Lost: The Truman Administration and the Farm Policy Debate. U. of Missouri Press, 2006. 275 pp.
• Nordin, Dennis S. and Scott, Roy V. From Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur: The Transformation of Midwestern Agriculture. Indiana U. Pr., 2005. 356 pp.

Environmental issues

• Cunfer, Geoff. On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. Texas A. & M. U. Pr., 2005. 240 pp.

Historiography

• Bogue, Allan G. "Tilling Agricultural History with Paul Wallace Gates and James C. Malin." Agricultural History 2006 80(4): 436-460. Issn: 0002-1482 Fulltext: in Ebsco

Primary sources

• Phillips, Ulrich B.

External Links

• H-RURAL. H-Net Discussion Network 2007. daily discussions and book review by scholars

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