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1900 New water supply for farmers
Industrial technologies significantly improved farming practices by 1900. Dams provided irrigation water to dry land, and USDA scientists introduced new plants to American farmers, like nectarines from Afghanistan, broccoli, and seedless raisin grapes from Italy, as well as a new avocado from Chile, greatly expanding what Americans could grow and what they could eat daily. -
1902
In Point, Texas, eleven family farmers started NFU in 1902 as the Farmers Educational Cooperative Union of America. The group "advocated for expanded cooperative rights, equitable market access for farmers, direct senatorial election, and voting rights for women." The National Farmers Union encouraged the growth of cooperatives with an emphasis on family farms' profitability. -
1906 Pure food
On March 10, 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote the president of the United States a letter that can be seen here. In it, Sinclair recommended that federal inspectors be placed in meatpacking facilities. He also recommended that these inspectors should dress as employees in order to learn the real working conditions at the facilities, as Sinclair did when he conducted his research for the book. -
1910 Machines have started to be used more frequent and helped farmers
Machines had significantly decreased the amount of labor needed on farms as the new century began. More Americans were able to explore new projects in business, the arts, and sciences thanks to the growth in productivity. Now the same amount of food might be produced with fewer people and less land. -
A Need for Agriculture Education
With war looming on the horizan and an industrial revolution that moved people from rural areas to cities, it became apparent that more people were needed to continue in the production of food and fiber(Fabric). The Federal Government (USDA) supported college programs for soldiers and land grant colleges with programs to educate farmers and future farmers. -
1918 War expansion
1914 saw the start of the First World War in Europe. These countries struggled to feed their citizens and soldiers while fighting was going on. The United States Department of Agriculture and the US Food Administration pushed American farmers and ranchers to expand production to fulfill the rising domestic and international demand. Farm prices more than doubled, and agricultural exports increased. -
Dry-Farming in a Nutshell
Due to the region's arid climate, irrigation or dry agricultural methods had to be used. A location for the dry farm should have more than ten inches of yearly precipitation and low wind. After it has been broken and cleared to a depth of at least eight feet, let the land lie fallow with clean tillage for a year. Disk the ground early in the spring to stop evaporation. Only contemporary plows, drill seeders, harvesters, headers, and threshers can be used for dry farming -
1919 Army Correspondence College
This headline announcing the establishment of an army correspondence college with agricultural courses first appeared in the military newspaper The Stars and Stripes (Paris, France) on March 21, 1919, while the American Expeditionary Force was doing occupation tasks in Europe after World War I. -
1926
The wartime market vanished as Europe emerged from the Great War, resulting in an abundance of goods and falling prices. Banks started to foreclose on many agricultural producers because they were unable to repay the loans they had taken out for equipment, land, and seed during the war. An agricultural downturn spread across the country. More than a million farmers were forced to look for work in urban areas. -
Dr.Louise Stanley
In 1923, the USDA established the Bureau of Home Economics. Dr. Louise Stanley was the bureau's first director. She had previously held the position of division chairman for home economics at the University of Missouri. -
1924
Despite recent wartime abundance, many rural households in the 1920s had much lower standards of living than city ones. Due to the lack of indoor plumbing and electricity in 40% of rural dwellings, many farmers started to yearn for the urban lifestyle. -
Exploring and Collectin Plant Life
In 1927, Congress established the National Arboretum as a part of the Department of Agriculture to develop, cultivate, and preserve fast-growing pest- and disease-resistant strains of pulp trees, shrubs, and woody plants. Since its inception, the USDA and other government agency scientists have been exploring and collecting plants from across the country and around the world. Visit the U.S. National Arboretum website to read about five plant scientists.