history of agriculture in the united states

8/13/2019 History of Agriculture in the United States

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History of agriculture in the United StatesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The History of agriculture in the United Statescovers the period from the first English settlers to the present

day. InColonial Americaagriculturewas the primary livelihood for 90% of the population; most towns wereshipping points for the export of agricultural products. Most farms were geared toward subsistence production

for family use. The rapid growth of population and the expansion of the frontier opened up large numbers of

new farms, and clearing the land was a major preoccupation of farmers. After 1800, cotton became the chief

crop in southern plantations, and the chief American export. After 1840, industrialization and urbanization

opened up lucrative domestic markets. The number of farms grew from 1.4 million in 1850, to 4.0 million in

1880, and 6.4 million in 1910; then started to fall, dropping to 5.6 million in 1950 and 2.2 million in 2008.[1]

Contents

[hide]

1 Colonial farming: 16101775

o 1.1 Ethnic farming styles

2 Railroad Age: 18601910

o 2.1 Rural life

o 2.2 Ranching

3 South, 18601940

4 Grange 5 Golden Era, 19001914

6 World War I

7 1920s

8 New Deal farm and rural programs

o 8.1 Rural relief

9 Postwar

10 Crops

o

10.1 Wheat 10.1.1 Varieties

10.1.2 Exports

10.1.3 Marketing

o 10.2 Cotton

o 10.3 Citrus
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11 See also

12 References

13 Bibliography

o 13.1 Surveys

o 13.2 Before 1775

o 13.3 17751860: North

o 13.4 17751860: South

o 13.5 1860-present, national

o 13.6 1860-present, regional studies

o 13.7 Environmental issues

o 13.8 Historiography

o 13.9 Primary sources

14 External links

Colonial farming: 16101775[edit]

Plantation agriculture, usingslaves,developed in Virginia and Maryland (where tobacco was grown), and South

Carolina (where indigo and rice were grown). Cotton became a major plantation crop after 1800 in the "Black

Belt," that is the region from North Carolina in an arc through Texas where the climate allowed for cotton

cultivation.[2]

Most farms were subsistence, producing food for the family and some for trade and taxes.

The first settlers inPlymouth Colonyplantedbarleyandpeasfrom England but their most important crop was

Indian corn (maize)which they were shown how to cultivate by the nativeSquanto.To fertilize this crop, they

used small fish which they called herrings orshads.[3]

Ethnic farming styles[edit]

Ethnicity made a difference in agricultural practice. As an example,German Americanfarmers generally

preferred oxen rather than horses to pull their plows andThe Scots Irishbuilt an economy with some farming

but more herding (of hogs and cattle). In the American colonies, Scots-Irish focused on mixed-farming. Using

this technique, they grew corn for human consumption and as feed for hogs and other livestock. Many

improvement-minded farmers of all different backgrounds began using new agricultural practices to raise their

output. During the 1750s, these agricultural innovators replaced the hand sickles and scythes used to harvest

hay, wheat, and barley with the cradle scythe, a tool with wooden fingers that arranged the stalks of grain for

easy collection. This tool was able to triple the amount of work down by farmers in one day. A few scientific

farmers (mostly wealthy planters likeGeorge Washington)began fertilizing their fields with dung and lime and

rotating their crops to keep the soil fertile.
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ots-Irish_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots-Irish_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots-Irish_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Americanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States&action=edit&section=2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squantohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maizehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barleyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#cite_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Belt_(U.S._region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Belt_(U.S._region)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States&action=edit&section=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#External_linkshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Primary_sourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Historiographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Environmental_issueshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#1860-present.2C_regional_studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#1860-present.2C_nationalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#1775.E2.80.931860:_Southhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#1775.E2.80.931860:_Northhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Before_1775http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Surveyshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Bibliographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#Referenceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States#See_also


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Before 1720, most colonists in the mid-Atlantic region worked with small-scale farming and paid for imported

manufactures by supplying the West Indies with corn and flour. In New York, a fur-pelt export trade to Europe

flourished adding additional wealth to the region. After 1720, mid-Atlantic farming stimulated with the

international demand for wheat. A massive population explosion in Europe brought wheat prices up. By 1770, a

bushel of wheat cost twice as much as it did in 1720. Farmers also expanded their production of flaxseed and

corn since flax was a high demand in the Irish linen industry and a demand for corn existed in the West Indies.

Some Colonial Settlers who just arrived purchased farms and shared in this export wealth, but many poor

German immigrants and Scots-Irish settlers were forced to work as agricultural wage laborers. Merchants and

artisans hired teen-aged indentured servants as workers for a domestic system for the manufacture of cloth

and other goods. Merchants often bought wool and flax from farmers and employed newly arrived immigrants,

who had been textile workers in Ireland and Germany, to work in their homes spinning the materials into yarn

and cloth. Large farmers and merchants became wealthy, while farmers with smaller farms and artisans only

made enough for subsistence.

Pennsylvania was the center of Britishnon-conformistsettlement and German immigration, adapting Old World

techniques to a much more abundant land supply.

Railroad Age: 18601910[edit]

A dramatic expansion in farming took place.[4]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.[5]

The federal government issued 160-acre (65ha)tracts virtually free to about 400,000 families who settled new

land under theHomestead Actof 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.[6]

Rural life[edit]
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Boosterism: cover of a promotional booklet published in 1907 by the Rock Island railroad

Early settlers discovered that the Great Plains was not the "Great American Desert," but they also found that

the very harsh climatewith tornadoes, blizzards, drought, hail, floods and grasshoppers[7]made for a high

risk of a ruined crop. Many early settlers were financially ruined, especially in the early 1890s, and either

protested through the Populist movement, or went back east. In the 20th century, crop insurance, new

conservation techniques, and large-scale federal aid all lowered the risk. Immigrants, especially Germans, and

their children comprised the largest element of settlers after 1860; they were attracted by the good soil, low

priced lands from the railroad companies, and the chance to homestead 160 acres (0.65 km2) and receive title

to the land at no cost from the federal government.

The problem of blowing dust came not because farmers grew too much wheat, but because the rainfall was too

little to grow enough wheat to keep the topsoil from blowing away. In the 1930s techniques and technologies of

soil conservation, most of which had been available but ignored before the Dust Bowl conditions began, were
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promoted by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of the US Department of Agriculture, so that, with

cooperation from the weather, soil condition was much improved by 1940.[8]

On the Great Plains very few single men attempted to operate a farm or ranch; farmers clearly understood the

need for a hard-working wife, and numerous children, to handle the many chores, including child-rearing,

feeding and clothing the family, managing the housework, feeding the hired hands, and, especially after the

1930s, handling the paperwork and financial details.[9]During the early years of settlement in the late 19th

century, farm women played an integral role in assuring family survival by working outdoors. After a generation

or so, women increasingly left the fields, thus redefining their roles within the family. New conveniences such

as sewing and washing machines encouraged women to turn to domestic roles. The scientific housekeeping

movement, promoted across the land by the media and government extension agents, as well as county fairs

which featured achievements in home cookery and canning, advice columns for women in the farm papers, and

home economics courses in the schools.[10]

temporary quarters forVolga Germansin central Kansas, 1875

Although the eastern image of farm life on the prairies emphasizes the isolation of the lonely farmer and farm

life, in reality rural folk created a rich social life for themselves. They often sponsored activities that combined

work, food, and entertainment such asbarn raisings,corn huskings, quilting bees,[11]Grange meeting, church

activities, and school functions. The womenfolk organized shared meals and potluck events, as well as

extended visits between families.[12]

Ranching[edit]

Much of theGreat Plainsbecameopen range,hosting cattle ranching operations on public land without charge.

In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals and

sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. Cowboys drove

Texas cattle north to railroad lines in the cities ofDodge City, KansasandOgallala, Nebraska;from there,
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cattle were shipped eastward. British investors financed many great ranches of the era. Overstocking of the

range and the terrible winter of 1886 resulted in a disaster, with many cattle starved and frozen to death. From

then on,ranchersgenerally raised feed to ensure they could keep their cattle alive over winter.

When there was too little rain for ordinary farming, but enough grass for grazing, cattle ranching became

dominant. Before the railroads arrived in Texas the 1870s cattle drives took large herds from Texas to the

railheads in Kansas. A few thousand Indians resisted, notably theSioux,who were reluctant to settle on

reservations, but most Indians themselves became ranch hands and cowboys. New varieties of wheat

flourished in the arid parts of theGreat Plains,opening much of the Dakotas, Montana, western Kansas,

western Nebraska and eastern Colorado to farming.

South, 18601940[edit]

Sawers (2004) shows how southern farmers made the mule their preferred draft animal in the South during the

1860s-1920s, primarily because it fit better with the region's geography. Mules better withstood the heat of

summer, and their smaller size and hooves were well suited for such crops as cotton, tobacco, and sugar. The

character of soils and climate in the lower South hindered the creation of pastures, so mule breeding tended to

reside in the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Transportation costs combined with

topography to influence the prices of mules and horses, which in turn affected patterns of mule use. The

economic and production advantages associated with mules made their use a progressive step for Southern

agriculture that endured until the mechanization brought by tractors.

Grange[edit]

TheGrangewas an organization founded in 1867 for farmers and their wives that was strongest in the

Northeast, and which promoted the modernization not only of farming practices but also of family and

community life. It is still in operation.[13]
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Promotional poster offering a "gift for the grangers", ca. 1873.

Membership soared from 1873 (200,000) to 1875 (858,050) as many of the state and local granges adopted

non-partisan political resolutions, especially regarding the regulation of railroad transportation costs. The

organization was unusual in that it allowed women and teens as equal members. Rapid growth infused the

national organization with money from dues, and many local granges established consumercooperatives,

initially supplied by the Chicago wholesalerAaron Montgomery Ward.Poor fiscal management, combined with

organizational difficulties resulting from rapid growth, led to a massive decline in membership. By around the

start of the 20th century, the Grange rebounded and membership stabilized.[14]

In the mid-1870s, state Granges in the Midwest were successful in passing state laws that regulated the rates

they could be charged by railroads and grain warehouses. The birth of the federal government'sCooperative
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Extension Service,Rural Free Delivery,and theFarm Credit Systemwere largely due to Grange lobbying. The

peak of their political power was marked by their success inMunn v. Illinois,which held that the grain

warehouses were a "private utility in thepublic interest," and therefore could be regulated by public law (see

references below, "The Granger Movement"). During theProgressive Era(1890s-1920s), political parties took

up Grange causes. Consequently, local Granges focused more on community service, although the State and

National Granges remain a political force.

Golden Era, 19001914[edit]

The first years of the 20th century were prosperous for all American farmers. The years 19101914 became a

statistical benchmark, called "parity", that organized farm groups wanted the government to use as a

benchmark for the level of prices and profits they felt they deserved.[15]

World War I[edit]

The U.S. inWorld War I,was a critical supplier to otherAllied nations,as millions of European farmers were in

the army. The rapid expansion of the farms coupled with the diffusion of trucks and Model T cars, and the

tractor, allowed the agricultural market to expand to an unprecedented size.

During World War I prices shot up and farmers borrowed heavily to buy out their neighbors and expand their

holdings. This gave them very high debts that made them vulnerable to the downturn in farm prices in 1920.

Throughout the 1920s and down to 1934 low prices and high debt were major problems for farmers in all

regions.

1920s[edit]
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A 1919 sheet music cover

A popularTin Pan Alleysong of 1919 asked, concerning the United States troops returning from World War I,

"How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down On the Farm After They've SeenParee?". In fact, many did not remain "down

on the farm"; there was a great migration of youth from farms to nearby towns and smaller cities. The average

distance moved was only 10 miles (16 km). Few went to the cities over 100,000. However, agriculture became

increasingly mechanized with widespread use of thetractor,other heavy equipment, and superior techniques

disseminated throughCounty Agents,who were employed by state agricultural colleges and funded by the

Federal government. The early 1920s saw a rapid expansion in the American agricultural economy largely due

to new technologies and especially mechanization. Competition from Europe and Russia had disappeared due

to the war and American agricultural goods were being shipped around the world.[16]

The new technologies, such as thecombine harvester,meant that the most efficient farms were larger in size

and, gradually, the small family farm that had long been the model were replaced by larger and more business-

oriented firms. Despite this increase in farm size and capital intensity, the great majority of agricultural

production continued to be undertaken by family-owned enterprises.

World War I had created an atmosphere of high prices for agricultural products as European nations demand

for exports surged. Farmers had enjoyed a period of prosperity as U.S. farm production expanded rapidly to fill

the gap left as European belligerents found themselves unable to produce enough food. When the war ended,

supply increased rapidly as Europe's agricultural market rebounded. Overproduction led to plummeting prices

which led to stagnant market conditions and living standards for farmers in the 1920s. Worse, hundreds of

thousands of farmers had taken out mortgages and loans to buy out their neighbors' property, and now are

unable to meet the financial burden. The cause was the collapse of land prices after the wartime bubble when

farmers used high prices to buy up neighboring farms at high prices, saddling them with heavy debts. Farmers,

however, blamed the decline of foreign markets, and the effects of the protective tariff.[17]

Farmers demanded relief as the agricultural depression grew steadily worse in the middle 1920s, while the rest

of the economy flourished. Farmers had a powerful voice in Congress, and demanded federal subsidies, most

notably theMcNaryHaugen Farm Relief Bill.It was passed but vetoed by President Coolidge.[18]Coolidge

instead supported the alternative program of Commerce SecretaryHerbert Hooverand Agriculture

SecretaryWilliam M. Jardineto modernize farming, by bringing in more electricity, more efficient equipment,

better seeds and breeds, more rural education, and better business practices. Hoover advocated the creation

of a Federal Farm Board which was dedicated to restriction of crop production to domestic demand, behind a

tariff wall, and maintained that the farmer's ailments were due to defective distribution. In 1929, the Hoover plan

was adopted.[19]

New Deal farm and rural programs[edit]
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PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt,a liberal Democrat President, was keenly interested in farm issues and

believed that true prosperity would not return until farming was prosperous. Many different programs were

directed at farmers.[20]Roosevelt's "First Hundred Days" produced the Farm Security Act to raise farm incomes

by raising the prices farmers received, which was achieved by reducing total farm output. TheAgricultural

Adjustment Actcreated theAgricultural Adjustment Administration(AAA) in May 1933. The act reflected the

demands of leaders of major farm organizations, especially theFarm Bureau,and reflected debates among

Roosevelt's farm advisers such as Secretary of AgricultureHenry A. Wallace,M.L. Wilson,[21]Rexford Tugwell,

andGeorge Peek.[22]

The aim of the AAA was to raise prices for commodities through artificial scarcity. The AAA used a system of

"domestic allotments", setting total output of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat. The

farmers themselves had a voice in the process of using government to benefit their incomes. The AAA paid

land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle with funds provided by a new tax on food processing.

The goal was to force up farm prices to the point of "parity", an index based on 19101914 prices. To meet

1933 goals, 10 million acres (40,000 km2) of growing cotton was plowed up, bountiful crops were left to rot, and

six million baby pigs were killed and discarded.[23]The idea was the less produced, the higher the wholesale

price and the higher income to the farmer. Farm incomes increased significantly in the first three years of the

New Deal, as prices for commodities rose. Food prices remained well below 1929 levels.[24][25]

The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning on the entire agricultural sector

of the economy and was the first program on such a scale on behalf of the troubled agricultural economy. The

original AAA did not provide for anysharecroppersortenantsor farm laborers who might become unemployed,

but there were other New Deal programs especially for them.

In 1936, the Supreme Court declared the AAA to be unconstitutional for technical reasons; it was replaced by a

similar program that did win Court approval. Instead of paying farmers for letting fields lie barren, this program

instead subsidized them for planting soil enriching crops such asalfalfathat would not be sold on the market.

Federal regulation of agricultural production has been modified many times since then, but together with large

subsidies the basic philosophy of subsidizing farmers is still in effect in 2012.

It was not untilWorld War IIthat America completely recovered from theGreat Depressionand the agricultural

economy was completely revived. Young men in farming were exempted from the wartime draft.[26]
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A migrant farm family in California, March 1935. Photo byDorothea Lange.

Rural relief[edit]

Modern methods had not reached the backwoods such as Wilder, Tennessee (Tennessee Valley Authority, 1942)

Many rural people lived in severe poverty, especially in the South. Major programs addressed to their needs

included theResettlement Administration(RA), theRural Electrification Administration(REA), rural welfare

projects sponsored by the WPA, NYA, Forest Service and CCC, including school lunches, building new

schools, opening roads in remote areas, reforestation, and purchase of marginal lands to enlarge national

forests. In 1933, the Administration launched theTennessee Valley Authority,a project involving dam

construction planning on an unprecedented scale in order to curb flooding, generate electricity, and modernize

the very poor farms in theTennessee Valleyregion of theSouthern United States.

For the first time, there was a national program to help migrant and marginal farmers, through programs such

as theResettlement Administrationand theFarm Security Administration.Their plight gained national attention
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through the 1939 novel and filmThe Grapes of Wrath.The New Deal thought there were too many farmers,

and resisted demands of the poor for loans to buy farms.

The last major New Deal legislation concerning farming was in 1937, when the Farm Tenancy Act was created

which in turn created theFarm Security Administration(FSA), replacing the Resettlement Administration.

Postwar[edit]

After 1945, a continued increase in productivity that led to further increases in farm size, and corresponding

reductions in the number of farms. Many farmers sold out and moved to nearby towns and cities. Others moved

to a part-time operation, supported by off-farm employment. Conkin (2009) emphasized how new machinery

especially large self-propelled combines and mechanicalcotton pickerssharply reduced labor requirements in

harvesting.

Second, electricity powered motors and irrigation pumps that opened up new ways to be efficient. Electricity

also played a role making possible major innovations inanimal husbandry,especially modern milking

parlors,grain elevators,andCAFOs(confined animal-feeding operations) (Conkin, 2009). Advances

infertilizersandherbicides,(as well asinsecticides,fungicides,antibioticsandgrowth hormones), reduced

wastage due to weeds, insects and diseases.

Finally there were great advances in plant and animal breeding, such as crop hybridization, artificial

insemination of livestock, andGMOs(genetically modified organisms). Further down the food change came

innovations in food processing and distribution (e.g. frozen foods).[27]

Crops[edit]

Wheat[edit]

Main article:Wheat production in the United States

Wheat, used for white bread, pastries, pasta and pizza, has been the principal cereal crop since the 18th

century. It was introduced by the first English colonists and quickly became the major cash crop of farmers on

the frontier. In colonial times its culture became concentrated in the middle colonies, which became known as

the "bread colonies." In the mid-18th century, wheat culture spread to the tidewater of Maryland and Virginia,

where George Washington was a prominent grower as he diversified away from tobacco. The crop moved

west, with Ohio as the center in 1840 and Illinois in 1860.[28]Illinois replaced its wheat with corn (which was fed

to the hogs) and was overtaken by Minnesota in 1889. The invention of mechanical harvesters, drawn first by

horses then tractors, made larger farms much more efficient than small ones. The farmers had to borrow to buy

land and equipment, and had to specialize in wheat, which made them highly vulnerable to price fluctuations,

and gave them an incentive to ask for government help to stabilize or raise prices.[29]Wheat farming depended

on a significant labor input only during planting, and especially at harvest time. Therefore successful farmers,
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especially on the Great Plains, bought up as much land as possible, purchased very expensive mechanical

equipment, and depended on migrating hired laborers at harvesting time. The migrant families tended to be

social outcasts without local roots, and mostly lived near the poverty line except in harvesting season.[30]From

1909 to today North Dakota and Kansas have vied for first place in wheat production, followed by Oklahoma

and Montana.

McCormickreaper and twine binderin 1884

In the colonial era, wheat was sown by broadcasting; reaped by sickles, and threshed by flails. The kernels

were then taken to a grist mill for grinding into flour. In 1830, it took four different people and two oxen, working

10 hours a day, to produce 200 bushels.[31]New technology greatly increased productivity in the 19th century,

as sowing with drills replaced broadcasting, cradles took the place of sickles, and the cradles in turn were

replaced by reapers and binders. Steam-powered threshing machines superseded flails. By 1895, in Bonanza

farms in the Dakotas, it took six different people and 36 horses pulling huge harvesters, working 10 hours a

day, to produce 20,000 bushels.[31]In the 1930s the gasoline powered"combine"combined reaping and

threshing into one operation that took one person to operate. Production grew from 85 million bushels in 1839,

500 million in 1880, 600 million in 1900, and peaked at 1.0 billion bushels in 1915. Prices fluctuated erratically,

with a downward trend in the 1890s that caused great distress in the Plains states.[32]

A 1928 Wallistractor made byMassey Ferguson
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The marketing of wheat was modernized as well, as the cost of transportation steadily fell and more and more

distant markets opened up. Before 1850, the crop was sacked, shipped by wagon or canal boat, and stored in

warehouses. With the rapid growth of the nation's railroad network in the 1850s-1870s, farmers took their

harvest by wagon for sale to the nearest country elevators. The wheat moved to terminal elevators, where it

was sold through grain exchanges to flour millers and exporters. Since the elevators and railroads generally

had a local monopoly, farmers soon had targets besides the weather for their complaints. They sometimes

accused the elevator men of undergrading, shortweighting, and excessive dockage. Scandinavian immigrants

in the Midwest took control over marketing through the organization of cooperatives.[33]

Varieties[edit]

Following the invention of the steel roller mill in 1878, hard varieties of wheat such as Turkey Red became

more popular than soft, which had been previously preferred because they were easier for grist mills to grind.

The horse-powered thresher; it removes the inediblechafffrom the wheat kernels

Wheat production witnessed major changes in varieties and cultural practices since 1870. Thanks to these

innovations, vast expanses of the wheat belt now support commercial production, and yields have resisted the

negative impact of insects, diseases, and weeds. Biological innovations contributed roughly half of labor-

productivity growth between 1839 and 1909.[34]

In the late 19th century, hardy new wheat varieties from the Russian steppes were introduced on the Great

Plains by theVolga Germanswho settled in North Dakota, Kansas, Montana and neighboring states.[35]Legend

credits the miller Bernhard Warkentin (18471908), a German Mennonite from Russia for introducing the

"Turkey red" variety from Russia.[36]More exactly, in the 1880s numerous millers and government agricultural

agents worked to create "Turkey red" and make Kansas the "Wheat State".[37]The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture,

and the state experiment stations, have developed many new varieties, and taught farmers how to plant

them.[38]Similar varieties now dominate in the arid regions of theGreat Plains.

Exports[edit]
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Wheat farmers have always produced a surplus for export. The exports run a small-scale until the 1860s, when

bad crops in Europe, and lower prices due to cheap railroads and ocean transport, opened the European

markets. The British in particular depended on American wheat during the 1860s for a fourth of their food

supply. By 1880, 150,000,000 bushels were exported to the value of $190,000,000. World War I saw large

numbers of young European farmers conscripted into the army, so some Allied countries, particularly France

and Italy depended on American shipments,[39]which ranged from 100,000,000 to 260,000,000 bushels a year.

American farmers reacted to the heavy demand and high prices by expanding their production, many taking out

mortgages to buy out their neighbors farms. This led to a large surplus in the 1920s. The resulting low prices

prompted growers to seek government support of prices, f irst through theMcNary-Haugen bills,which failed in

Congress, and later in theNew Dealthrough the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 and its many versions.[40]

World War II brought an enormous expansion of production, topping off at a billion bushels in 1944. During the

war and after large-scale wheat and flour exports were part ofLend Leaseand the foreign assistance

programs. In 1966 exports reached 860 million bushels of which 570 million were given away as food aid. A

major drought in the Soviet Union in 1972 led to the sale of 390 million bushels and an agreement was

assigned in 1975 under the dtente policy to supply the Soviets with grain over a five-year period.

Marketing[edit]

By 1900 private grain exchanges settled the daily prices for North American wheat. Santon (2010) explains

how the AAA programs set wheat prices in the U.S. after 1933, and the Canadians established a wheat board

to do the same there. The Canadian government required prairie farmers to deliver all their grain to the

Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), a single-selling-desk agency that supplanted private wheat marketing in

western Canada. Meanwhile, the United States government subsidized farm incomes with domestic-use taxes

and import tariffs, but otherwise preserved private wheat marketing.[41]

Cotton[edit]

Picking cotton in Georgia in 1943
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In the colonial era, small amounts high quality long-staplecottonwas produced in theSea Islandsoff the coast

of South Carolina. Inland, only short-staple cotton could be grown but it was full of seeds and very hard to

process into fiber. The invention of the cotton gin in the late 1790s for the first time made short-staple cotton

usable. It was generally produced on plantations ranging from South Carolina westward, with the work done by

black slaves. Simultaneously, the rapid growth of theindustrial revolutionin Britain, focused on textiles, created

a major demand for the fiber. Cotton quickly exhausts the soil, so planters used their large profits to buy fresh

land to the west, and purchase more slaves from the border states to operate their new plantations. After 1810,

the emerging textile mills in New England also produced a heavy demand. By 1820, over 250,000 bales (of 500

pounds each) were exported to Europe, with a value of $22 million. By 1840, exports reached 1.5 million bales

valued at $64 million, two thirds of all American exports. Cotton prices kept going up as the South remained the

main supplier in the world. In 1860, the US shipped 3.5 million bales worth $192 million.[42]

After the Civil War, cotton production expanded to small farms, operated by white and black tenant farmers

andsharecroppers.[43]The quantity exported held steady, at 3,000,000 bales, but prices on the world market

fell.[44]Although there was some work involved in planting the seeds, and cultivating or holding out the weeds,

the critical labor input for cotton was in the picking. How much a cot in a bit operation could produce depended

on how many hands (men women and children) were available. Finally in the 1950s, new mechanical

harvesters allowed a handful of workers to pick as much as 100 had done before. The result was a large-scale

exodus of the white and black cotton farmers from the south. By the 1970s, most cotton was grown in large

automated farms in the Southwest.[45]

Citrus[edit]

Main article:History_of_Riverside, California#Citrus history

See also[edit]

Agriculture in the United States

Cotton production in the United States

Corn production in the United States

References[edit]

1. Jump up^US Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010(2010)Table 800

2. Jump up^The "Black Belt" was originally names after the black soil; most of the population is African

American.

3. Jump up^Mary Caroline Crawford (1970), In the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, p. 114

4. Jump up^Fred A. Shannon, The farmer's last frontier: agriculture, 18601897(1945)complete text online

5. Jump up^Historical Statistics(1975) p. 437 series K1-K16
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