Food, Land

1
Food, Land People in a Changing America

• The story of American Agriculture
• through 1877

2
Geography, the Climate and Land

• Deep well drained topsoil, prime agricultural
  land.
• Temperate climate, moderate temperature, and
  adequate rainfall.

What is agriculture?
3
Early America, the Food and Land
Food production harvesting techniques of Native
Americans

• Three Sisters Corn, Squash, and Beans
• Pumpkins, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Peanuts,
  Sunflowers, Cotton, Pineapples Blueberries
• Farming and Traditions, Green Corn Ceremony
• Crop and livestock production

4
America, the Food and Land
Today, almost half of the worlds food crops come
from the plants that were first grown in the
Americas.
5
Early America the Fiber and Land

• Plant leaf and stem fibers
• Cotton
• Indians knew how to weave cotton
• 1600s southern colonies grew this crop on a small
  scale for self sufficiency
• 1700s Cotton is grown on a larger scale in
  southern colonies

6
America, the People the Land, and a New Economy

• When Europeans arrived Native Americans farmed.
• New colonists in Jamestown were forced to work on
  the farms if they wanted to eat (the preferred
  looking for gold).
• Tobacco production allowed the Virginia colony to
  succeed and establish a stable form of government.

7
Hearts and Minds
There seems to be 3 ways for a nation to acquire
wealth the first is by war...this is robbery
the second by commerce, which is generally
cheating the third by agriculture, the only
honest way...
Benjamin Franklin
8
Transformed America, the Food, Land and People
Significant events that changed the way we live!

• 1493 - Columbus introduces calves,
• goats, sheep, pigs, hens, fruit,
• and old world vegetable seeds.
• 1607 - English colonists plant grain,
• potatoes, pumpkins, and melons.
• 1609 - Indians teach Jamestown
• settlers how to grow corn.

9
Hearts and Minds
I know of no pursuit in life in which more real
and important services can be rendered to any
country than by improving its agriculture, its
breed of useful animals, and other branches of a
husbandmans care.
George Washington
10
Transformed America, the Food, Land and People

• - First Negroes arrive at Jamestown.
• 1786 - George Washington breeds the
• first mules in the U.S.
• 1793 - Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.
• Thomas Jefferson invented the
• moldboard plow.
• 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion western
• farmers revolt against a grain tax.

1776 - Farmers make up 92 of the population, of
5 million.
11
Hearts and Minds
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable
citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most
independent, the most wedded to its liberty and
interests, by the most lasting bonds.
Thomas Jefferson
12
Transformed America, the Food, Land and People
1803 - Louisiana Purchase, a port for
American farmers. 1805 - Cotton replaces tobacco
as the main crop in the south. 1810 -
Beginning of the Industrial Revolution. 1819 -
U.S. canning industry started. 1825 - Erie Canal
finished.
1795-1815 Sheep and wool industry
emphasized. 1830 275 labor hours to produce 100
bushels of wheat (5 acres)
13
History and Technology
Cotton Gin
14
Southern Dependency
A burial description The grave was dug through
solid marble, but the marble headstone came from
Vermont. It was a pine wilderness but the pine
coffin came from Cincinnati. An iron mountain
overshadowed it by the coffin nails and screws
and the shovel came from PittsburghA hickory
grove grew nearby, but the pick and shovel
handles came form New YorkThat country, so rich
in underdeveloped resources, furnished nothing
for the funeral except the corpse and the hole in
the ground.
15
History and Technology
Spinning Mill
16
History and Technology
Transportation Erie Canal 1817-1825
17
Hearts and Minds
Every nation should be able to feed and clothe
and defend itself. If it rely upon a foreign
supply that may be cut offit cannot be
independent.
Henry Clay
18
Transformed America, the Food, Land and People
1831 - Cyrus McCormick invented the grain
reaper, and the concept of paying
installments or buying on credit. 1836 - Grain
combine patented. 1837 - John Deere manufactures
steel plow. 1843 - Sir John Laws founded the
commercial fertilizer industry by
developing a process for making
superphosphate. 1850 - Rembert Prescott
developed a mechanical cotton
picking machine.
1845 1855 Great Potato famine in Ireland.
19
Transformed America, the Food, Land and People
1855 - Michigan and Pennsylvania established
the first state agricultural
colleges. 1858 - Mason jars, used for home
canning. 1862 - President Lincoln creates the
first Department of Agriculture and
the Morrill Land Grant College Act.
Homestead Act give 160 acres to
settlers who will farm the land for five
years. 1867 - Barbed wire invented.
Utah State University Established 1888
20
Land Distribution
21
Transformed America, the Food, Land and People
1869 - Transcontinental railroad completed. 1865
- Pasteurization invented. 1870 - Refrigerator
railroad car patented. 1875 - Milking machine
invented.
Modern Automatic milking machine, 2000
1860 - Farmers make up 58 of the
population. 1890 - 35-40 labor hours to produce
100 bushels of wheat on 2.5 acres
22
Food, Land and People Agriculture

• Does agriculture have a different definition
  today than 250 years ago?
• What do you think Ben Franklin, George
  Washington, and Thomas Jefferson would say about
  agriculture today?
• How did these men shape our American culture and
  our future?
• Is agriculture as important today as in 1776?
  1877?