Figure 1.--Here we see a faam hrvest harvest in 1920 with the hay piled high up on awaggon. The farmer dad below and mother and the kids on top of the pile. This sis something that farm farms families enjoyed doing each harvest season.

Native American peoples in what is now the United States varied greatly. They were a Stone Age people. Some were hunter gatherers. None were fully agriculturists, but many practiced some degree of agriculture, benefiting from the agricultural advances in Meso-America where corn/maize was developed. Corn of all the important grain crops developed around the world is the most efficient at converting sun light into energy rich carbohydrates. All the tribes in what is now North America practiced hunt-gathering. Most to varying degrees supplemented this to varying degrees with agriculture. Using these methods the America supported a reltively small population. Especially important were the seven sisters: corn, squash, and beans. These were crops planted together in a shared space. The three crops planted together protected and nourished each other in different ways. And they helped provide a balanced diet for indigenous population. And they were important when the Europeans arrived. The first Europeans landing in Virginia (1609) were for the most part not farmers and when forced by circumstance to farm, they were mostly interested in planting European crops, especially wheat. The first Europeanms were adventues looking for gold like the Spanish actually found. This meant famine and most of the 214 original Jamestown settlers did not survive that first winter. In the end, Native-American crops (primarily corn) and practices were vital in getting the Europeans over the early adjustment period. The first cash crop was another plant grown by the Native Americans--tobacco. Smoking tobacco soon caught on in Europe creating a ready market for American farmers, especially southerrn farmers. As colonial farmers became established they began growing wheat needed for bread, but this was mostly marketed locally. As Americans began moving west a problem emerged--transport. This was especially true over the Appalachian mountains. Corn and grains are bulky crops with low prices per unit. Thus transporting them east was uneconomical. Farmers began producing corn whiskey which was valuable enough that it could be transported. This led to the Whiskey Rebellion (1791-94) which ironically was personally supressed by President George Washingotn--the most important distiller in the country. For the first half of the 19th century, farmers were dependent on rivers and canals to transport their crops to market. Wheat grew in importance in the North. In the South. a new crop appeared -- cotton. Eli Whitney's cotton gin solved the problem of removing the seeds (1793). This created an enormously valuable crop helping to finance the first stage of the Industrial Revolution in the North. Tragically it led to plantations and slave labor leading to the Civil War (1861-65). Slavery was primarily tied to sugar, but in the United States, it was cotton. Both tobacco and ctton were leaching the nutrient content of the soil, a factor pushing Southern plantes to expand plantation-based slavery. Other major crops could be produced on the famly farm which thanks to the Northwest Ordinance (1787) and Homestead Act (1862) became the backbone of American agriculture. After the Civil War, settlers ventured out on to the grasslands of the Great Planes. This led to a huge incraease in grain farming, especially wheat. And thanks to the railroad and steam powered shipping, farmers had access to not only the markets created in the growing American cities, but also foreign markets, especially Europe. During nd after World War I (1914-18) it would be American relief shipments of wheat and other farm products that helped keep Britain in the War and prevented Europe from starving. The U.S. Department of Agriculture began importing soybean varieties as a potential new crop (1898). Often not considered is hay, but from the beginning hay was important. It was needed to feed farm animals, especially horses needed to power farming operations. Henry Ford's Model-T Tin Lizzie(1907) led to the mechanization of the American farm. This reduced but did not eliminated the importance of hay. While American mechanized it farms, Germany did not, hay remained very important. The consequences were enormous. This is a major reason Germany lost both World War I and II. Today the three major crops grown by American farmers are 1) corn, 2) soy beans and 3) hay, covering over 75 percent of harvested cropland. (The continued importance of hay was is in part due to land management allowing part of the land holding to go fallow.) Corn continues to be the king of American crops. This is not well undestood because for the most part it is not consumed directly or not cosumed at all. Other important crops are wheat and cotton. Specialty crops (fruits, vegetables, and nuts) taken as a whole are also important. Here California dominates specialty crop production. California farmers growing over a third of U.S. vegetables and three-quarters of fruits and nuts. This may change if state Democrats continue putting the stte's farmerrs at the lowest level of available water allocation priorities. The potato is the sinle most important vegetable bt in this casr Idaho is the largest producer.

Created: 9:41 PM 8/28/2025
Last updated: 9:41 PM 8/28/2025