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The history of agriculture in what is now the United States began with the Native Americn peoples. While most were hunter gather peoples some were involved in agriculture to various degrees, especially the Eastern Woodland, Missipian, and Southwestern peoples. This was a relatively recent development. It occurred only after corn developed in Meso-America reached the peoples further north. Initially agriculture in colonial America like all other countries at the time was the principal sector. The first settlers in Jamesetown (1609) were not interested in farming. They hoping to find gold and silver judt like the Spanish. It soon became clear, however, that agriculture was needed if they were to survive. And it would be the basis of the economy just as it was in Europe. A decade later the Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony (1620). Two different farm labor models followed. Free labor in the North and slave labor in the South. The first important cash crop was tobacco. Wheat became important because people wanted bread. It is corn, however, that is the most productive crop. No other crop so efficently converts sun energy. Convering it into cash, however, was a problem. This was es[ecially the case after the Revolution when Americans moved beyond the Apalachins. One sollution was to covert it to more transportable corn whiskey. This led to the Whiskey Rebellion (1791). At about the same time Eli Whitney invnted the cotton gin (1793). This revolutionized agriculture in the south. In made cotton a valuable cash crop and meant that slavery instead of dieing out would become a emensly profitable American institution. Cotton would become the major American export commodity and essentilly finance the industrialization of the North. Througout most of the 19th century, agriculture was the backbone of the econmy, only by the late-19th century industry begin to replace agriculture as the heart of the economy. The settlement of the Mid-West cand Great Plains made America into a world bred basket comparable to Tsarist Russia. Unlike Russia, American farmers began to mchsnize even before the development of mechanical power. This process continued even furher with the development of the intenal combustion engine. As a result the United States would help feed the Allies during World War I initiate relief programs and prevent starvation first in Belgium and then the rest of Europe after the War. American farmers experienced trying times after the war because they had expanded so much during the War (1920s). They were doubly hit by the Depressionand the Dust Bowl (1930s). The Roosevelt's Adminitration's New Deal struggle to assist farmers by both restricting production and modenizing the sector. Farmers also played a key role in World War II, feeding the Allies and preventing starvation after the war. The American population steadily shifted to urban areas throughout the 20th century, but even with a smaller workforce farmers continued to increase production. And agriculture continues to be an important export commodity. The stady urbanization and economic devlopment especially of Asia means that the demand for agriculture products is steadily growing.
A major issue creating the hydroogical map of the United States is precipitation. Te Rockies creates a significant rain shadow. This mens dry area on the leeward sid of a mountain chain where prevailing winds lose their moisture. As air cirrents climb and cool o the winward side, precipitation occurs. Having lost their moisture on the windward side. The result is a nore arid climate on the leewar side. The best example od this is the Pacific northwest. The west coast of Washigton and Oreon are very rainy, yet only a few miles away, est f the montain, eastern Washinton, Oreon and Idaho have arid landcpes. Tjis is called the Rocky Moutains ranfall shadow. It creates arid nd low rainfall condtions in much of the Western United States. This can be seen in the watervolumes of the two major tributaies. The major easter tributary of the Mississipis is the Ohio with an average discharge of 8.0 million cubic meters per second. The Missiur, the main western tributary has a iscarge rate of only 1.6 million cubic meters, although much more variable. The Great Plains are not arid, althoufgh rainfall levls are far below that of the Eastern Unted States. It is where for example that drought conditioins created the Dust Bowl (1930s). The result is that preipitayion levels is much higher east of the Missippi than west of the Missippi. The Rver itself has nothing to do with i annd is simply a cnvient dividig ont beteen Eastern and Western America. Ntoably prepitation levels aew highrr alng he east bank of the Missssippi than most if the West. This of course means that eastern farmers have much more waer to work wth than Western farmers. The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River watershed is one of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystems. It contains an incredible 85 percent of all the freshwater in North America. To the south an associate with it is Mississippi River valley/drainage basin. he Mississippi and th second-longest river in North America. It is also the 15th largest river by discharge in the world. The Missippi Valley covers some 1.2 millio square miles, including much of the agricultural land of the United States.
North America has a huge agricultural potential. Norhh America includes a huge expanse of flat, arable land squate in the midle of the United States. It includes the area west of the Great Lakes and east of the Rocky Mountains. It is the largest agricultural area in he world. The proto Indians finally breakinout of Beringia siscovered a geographic bonanza, especially as they got east of the Missippi. North America had virgin, fertile soils, ample water, and a temporate climates favorable for a wide rage of crops even with very baic technology. And with technological advances a much larger area of North America can be farmed. Agricultural is conducted throughout America. It is especially important in the Miwdest and the Central Valley of California.
The Southeast is commonly reffered to as the South. Ths is most of Ameria's subtropical and warm temperate areas. The Gulf of Mexico and coastal plain as well as the southeastern Atlantic coast regions are suitable for farmn winter vegetables. The Rio Grande Valley and Florida are known for citrus fruits, but cold saps can be damaging. Areas without heavy rain (undrer 60 inches of rain and over 200 frost-free days) make up the Cotton Belt, stretchng from South Carolina west to East Texas. Tobacco was the first majo crop grown in he outhern colonies. Sandy soils from Virginia to Kentucky were ieal to tobacco farming.
The Eastern Agricultural Complex is the area stretching from the Appalachian Mountains west to the Mississippi River. Corn was an imprtant crop. But until the railroads, farmrs had troubke gtting it ver the Appalachians. This led to the Whiskey Rebllion. The area includes Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Native plants like sunflower, squash, and amaranth are grown.
The Midwest in a huge area including the Great Plains. This area stretches from the Ohio River Valley to the lower Missouri Valley. It is River is perfect for modern corn and soybean cultivation. Corn was developed in Meso-America and is the crop which most efficently captures sun energy. Corn and potato are he two mst valuable crops of te Clombian excahnge. Native Americans did not have the technlogy to farm the Great Plains. Wheat was an imported crop and the Wheat Belt, extendings from Kansas to the Canadian Prairie provinces, is ideal for wheatt farming.
When Americans began crossing the Mississppi before the Cvil War(1861-56), they did not yet have the technology and equipment to farm the Great Plains. They headed for the Oregon Territory (Oregon, Washingon, and Idaho). his included ferile farming areas, especially for fruits. But also important was potatos- a major par of the Colombian Exchange. This was impOrtant because no other crop produces many calories per acre.
The Central Valley of Califona is protcted from hard winter wather by the Sierras and southerly location is ideal for agriculture. It has winter rain and summer sun. Much of Ameica's fruit and vegetables are produced ere. Te major limitation is the shrtage of irrigated water.
s like sunflower, squash, and amaranth are were growm.
The Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution involved technological advances that created modern crops, especially grains like wheat, rice, and corn. The first actual farming took place in river valleys, places where farming was possible with the most basic technology. Another basic step was expanding human power with animals. And for millennia, the basic power available to man was horse power. Some farmers might have more than one horse, but few had very many. This limited the productivity of any farmer. For millennia agriculture dominated human society and economies. The limited productivity of farmers also set limits on human populations and the growth of cities where civilization generates technology. Early farmers were doing well to harvest crops that could feed one or two urban dwellers. Over time that increased, but not by much. And the primary limitation was the power available to farmers. Basically they were limited to 1 or 2 horse power. Horses were so important that when mechanical power appeared (19th century), engines were calibrated in horsepower. While industrialists in cities benefited by powerful steam engines and then the development of electrical power. Farmers did not at first benefit as they did not have electricity or access to more than a few horse power. This did not change until the 20th century. It was America that unlocked the farm power problem. The process began with Henry Ford and internal-combustion engine. The first product was the Model-T Tin Lizzie. This Model-T by itself was a huge aid to farmers, especially when truck variants were developed. And Ford from an early point had an interest in tractors for farmers, putting real power in the hand of farmers. This meant significant increase in power so that even when rural populations fell, agricultural populations expanded. Tractors were the first step, much more sophisticate farm machinery followed--machinery focused oin sopecufic crops. At the same time electricity began reaching rural areas. In America the New Deal established the Rural Electrification Administration which accelerated this process, expanding the power available to farmers. Today, rather than feeding 2-3 people, an American farmer feeds something like 170 people. While power is essential to agriculture, there are many other technologies involved. Because agriculture was invented in fiver valleys, new technologies were needed to expand beyond river valleys. The Western river valleys (Sumeria , Egypt, and Harapia) developed in arid regions with warm climates. Thus as agriculture expanded to Europe, new technologies were needed to farm in different climates and soil types. What was needed was a new more effective plow. It did not come until the medieval era and it came from China. As science developed in the West, we see more rapid and sophisticated range. The American Land Grant universities helped channel technological change to the farmer. And now modern farmers, especially in America can use data and technology to optimize their input use. This includes water, fertilizer, and pesticides. Farmers can targeting specific areas or as technology develops even even individual plants. They have access to technologies like GPS-guided equipment, drones, and satellite imaging. This enables farmers to collect needed data and analyze it for improved results.
The Columbian Exchange is a major part the general process of biological globalization that was escalated Europan transoceanic maritime outreach. Te Ammericas had been separated from Europan-Asian land mass for millions of years Thus whe Columbus landed in he New World (1492), echanges were set in motion. But it was more than the Americas, Afrisca and Asia came in closr contct than had ever existed before. Columbus was followed by the European voyges of discovery (15th and 16th centuries). Continental drift separated the America for eons. China in contrast turned inward, The Ice Age allowed Siberians to populare the America, but this was a relatively short term connection during the Ice Age before recorded history. Oceanic shipping connected Europe with America as well as Asia. There wee connectioins with Asia earlier, but te level mof connection over the Silk Road was a frcion of what voccurred with onset of maritime connections. This had a huge impact on history, economics, and culture, especially in Africa and Asia, but no pat of the globe ws unaffected. China, Japan, and Korea attemted to isolate themselves, but filed. The term 'Columbian Exchange' was coined by Alfred W. Crosby whodivided the exchange into three categories: diseases, animals, and plants, ignoring the cultural aspect. 【Crosby 】
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 were for the most part were not farmers and they were mostly interested in planting European crops. They were mostly adventues looking for gold like the Spanish found. This meant that famine soon threatened. In the end, Native-American crops 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 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 to transport. This led to the Whiskey Rebellion (1791-94) For the first half of the 19th century, farmers were dependent on rivers and canals. Wheat grew in importance. In the South. a new crop appeared as tobacco was leaching the nutrient content of the soil. 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 in required plantations and slave labor leading to the Civil War (1861-65). After the Civil War, settlers ventured out on to the grasslands of the Great Planes. This led to a huge incraease in grain farming, specially 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. 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 Mode-T (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 corn, soy beans and hay, covering over 75 percent of harvested cropland. (The continued importance of was is in part due to land management allowing part of the land holdingg to go fallow. Corn continues to be the king of American crops. 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 history of agriculture in what is now the United States began with the Native Americn peoples. While most were hunter gather peoples some were involved in agriculture to various degrees, especially the Eastern Woodland, Missipian, and Southwestern peoples. This was a relatively recent development. It occurred only after corn developed in Meso-America reached the peoples further north.
Initially agriculture in colonial America like all other countries at the time was the principal sector. The first settlers in Jamesetown (1609) were not interested in farming. They hoping to find gold and silver judt like the Spanish. It soon became clear, however, that agriculture was needed if they were to survive. And it would be the basis of the economy just as it was in Europe. A decade later the Pilgrims founded Plymouth Colony (1620). Two different farm labor models followed. Free labor in the North and slave labor in the South. The first important cash crop was tobacco. Wheat became important because people wanted bread.
Land ownership patterns varied by colony, but in the birthern states the patten was lrgely family farms. The souther sttes varied. There were more family frms, but also plantations using slave labor. While this situation receives mucg of the historical attention, in fact slavey was only about 15 percent of the population. The other 85 percent consisted of the freest labor force in the world. Id course slavery needed to be studied, but the much larger American free labor ststen should not be ignored. Rarely mentioned is that the great proportion of the world work force labored under some form of the masny types of forced labor. While slavery was the most egrgious form of skave labor, the vast proportion of the wirld population was peasant labor working under conditions like serfs in Russia -- a landless peasantry. This did not occur in America because of the developing capitalist economy and English law. In fact, it was the small scale-land owning colonists that were the backbone of the Patriots that fought the British Army beginning with Cnocord and Lexington. After the Revolution, the Nortwest Ordinance passed by Congress laid the legal basis for the family farm (1787). Crops varied. Corn was especilly important. Corn is the most productive crop. No other crop so efficently converts sun energy. Convering it into cash, however, was a problem. This was especially the case after the Revolution when Americans began moving beyond the Appalachins. One sollution was to covert the corn to more transportable corn whiskey. This led to the Whiskey Rebellion (1791). Cotton was of little importance at the tine, although there was a great demand for it as a result if the Industrial Revolution in Britain. At about the same time as the Whiskey Rebellion, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin (1793). This revolutionized agriculture in the south. The cotton gin made cotton a valuable cash crop and meant that slavery instead of dying out would become an emensly profitable American institution.
America began as 13 British colonies narrowly clustered east of the Appalachan Mountains along the the Atlantic coast. Only three more states had been added by the urn of the 19th century. The econmy of all these sttes was based on agticulture with a strong commercial component in New England. There were two competing visions for America's future. Thomas Jefferson who won the 1800 presedential election envisioned a vast country populated by small-scale farmers who worked family farms. Secreary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton envision a commercial and manufcturing economy. This of course is what hppened, but Jefferson got his way as well. As America moved west, it began wil farmers hacking out family farms from the wilderness. This was the result of the legal anbd ecomnomic system, beginning with the Northwest Ordinance (1787). Cotton would become the major American export commodity and play a major role in financing the early industrialization of the North. It was, however, a very small part of the American work force (about 15 percent). Most Americans enjoyed the freest labor system in the world. And as America progressed, Americans enjoying wide-spread land ownership, became the most prosperous people on earth, attecting landless farmers and urban workers by the millions. Transportation was key to the development of agiculture. Produce has little valie unless it can be trasported to a market. Rivers and canals dominated in the first half of the century. The railroada which would begin to appear (1830s) and would dominate the secomd half of the century. America would dervlop the world greatest rail system and cross the coninent after the Civil War (1868). Railroads fundamentally changed the economics of American agriculture. Througout most of the 19th century, agriculture was the backbone of the economy, only by the late-19th century would industry begin to replace agriculture as the heart of the economy. Throughout the century, however, most Americans lived and worked on farms. After the Civil War (1861-65), the settlement of the Mid-West and Great Plains made America into a world breadbasket comparable to Tsarist Russia. Unlike Russia, American farms were dominated by the famiy farm promoted by the Homestead Act (1862). And American farmers began to mechanize even before the development of motor vehicles reached the American farm, creating the most efficent and productive farms in the world. By the end of the century, America haf streached not only to the Pacific coast, but had become both the world's greatest agriucultural producer, but also the world's leading industrial power.
The mrchsnization of American culture continued even furher with the development of the intenal combustion engine. As a result the United States would help feed the Allies during World War I initiate relief programs and prevent starvation first in Belgium and then the rest of Europe after the War. American farmers experienced trying times after the war because they had expanded so much during the War (1920s). They were doubly hit by the Depressionand the Dust Bowl (1930s). The Roosevelt's Adminitration's New Deal struggle to assist farmers by both restricting production and modenizing the sector. Farmers also played a key role in World War II, feeding the Allies and preventing starvation after the war. The American population steadily shifted to urban areas throughout the 20th century, but even with a smaller workforce farmers continued to increase production. And agriculture continues to be an important export commodity. The stady urbanization and economic devlopment especially of Asia means that the demand for agriculture products is steadily growing.
The United States currently has over 2.1 million farms. Each farm feeds 165 people annually in America and overseaa. The lobal population is expected to increase to 9.7 billion by 2050, which means that the world's farmers will have to grow about 70 percent more food than what is now produced. 【American Farm Bureau Foundation】
American Farm Bureau Foundation
Crosby, Algred W. Tthe Columbian Exchange (1972).
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