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Period: to
1900-1930 Agriculture
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Bureau of Reclamation
Dams supplied irrigation water to dry land and American farmers to new plants, including nectarines from Afghanistan, broccoli and seedless raisin grapes from Italy. A new avocado from Chile - greatly expanding what American farmers could have grown and what ordinary Americans could enjoy at the table. -
A New Century to Agriculture
Foreign demand for America's food surplus increased and Europe became America's largest customer. In 1906 Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. The legislation required the USDA to inspect the cleanliness of agricultural goods. -
Pure Food For The Growing Market
A letter Upton Sinclair sent to President Roosevelt on March 10, 1906. In it, Sinclair suggested the placement of federal inspectors in meatpacking houses, and advised that these inspectors should be disguised as workers in order to discover the true conditions at the plants. -
Manufacturing Innovations
Lowell Textile Mill is featured in this 1916 silent film which depicts the processing of wool after sheep are shorn. In Part 1, the sacks of wool arrive at a warehouse and the wool is graded and sold. -
A War Time Boom
During WW1 many acts were passed to increase production of farms, millions of acres and tens of thousands of machines were given out. Meat production swelled by 20% and vegetable production almost doubled. -
A Need For Agriculture For Education
A headline appeared in the military newspaper The Stars and Stripes (Paris, France) on March 21, 1919, announcing the creation of an army correspondence college with agricultural courses. -
War Time Expansion
During WW1 food was needed in abundance, this led to banks giving farmers massive long time loans to help speed up production. Farmers bought over 100,000 machines and developed ways to farm crops in dry areas. -
Women's Land Army of America (WLAA)
While WW1 was occuring men were off at war leaving farms empty and the people starving. This led to the WLAA being formed and it was about getting women on farms and doing what the men had done while they were at war. -
Farm Organizations to Help Improve Agriculture
Around the end of the 1910's organizations were becoming more common as a way to help improve farms efficiency and make life more tolerable for farmers. -
Rural Migration
Many farmers were losing their homes to the bank after taking loans during the great war to keep up with the demand of food needed. Later on this had helped caused the Great Depression -
Rural Roots
During the early 1920's many farms did not have plumbing or proper power, this led to many farmers envying the city life and, or leaving their farms. -
Surplus and Plummeting Prices
After WW1 there was a surplus of food but prices were rapidly dropping, this led to lots of food going to waste and many people losing there farms