-
Population and productivity
As the U.S. population continues to grow the farm population shrinks. In the 1950s the average total U.S. population was 151,132,000. The average farm population was 25,058,000. Farmers are 12.2% of the labor force. In the 1960s the average total U.S. population was 180,007,000. The farm population was 15,635,000. Farmers made up 8.3% of the labor force. -
Peace and prosperity
At the end of World War II, the Marshall Plan was enacted, which helped U.S. farm exports skyrocket from around two billion dollars in the 1940s to nearly four billion in 1950. The Marshall Plan helped restore the European economy while feeding millions of people. American farmers prospered due to record agricultural production and prices. -
Prosperity On The Farm
A whole new economy based on consumerism was created as television images increased the public’s appetite for all kinds of new products. Science and technology were changing the way America farmed. Farms became mechanized and new pesticides, weed killers, and chemical fertilizers increased crop yields. As agriculture became more efficient there were fewer but much larger farms. -
The Cold War Gets Hot
The U.S. military and Korean civilians needed new food supplies. In July 1950 President Truman ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase agricultural production for the war. Part of the push to re-arm required farmers to increase or decrease the production of specific farm products, a course of action that World War II practices had already prepared them to accept. The war became an economic boom for farmers who had crops to sell and families to support. -
Cold War Innovation
New fabrics were developed to help shield soldiers from burns and to help protect wounds from infection. Dextran, a sugar produced from bacteria acting on cane or beet sugars, was developed to assist blood transfusions. Their work dramatically improved the flavor and stability of soybean oil, making this once insignificant crop one of America’s most important products. -
The Changing Face of Food and Farming
In 1950 the average farm was two hundred and thirteen acres; by 1960 it was two hundred and ninety-seven acres and growing. The number of large-scale commercial farms continued to increase because they were more efficient and productive. Modernization, such as the introduction of the mechanical cotton picker. Farmers who owned smaller farms had to seek extra income from other employment to compete with large-scale commercial agricultural enterprises. -
A Free Market to Fight The Surplus
When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in 1953 he believed that the government had imposed too many rigid federal controls on farmers and taken away the competition in agriculture. Under the leadership of Eisenhower’s Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson, the USDA was reorganized to meet the changing needs of American agriculture. Benson believed that adequate research and education programs in production, processing, marketing, and utilization were important. -
Science and Technology Great Expansion
Agricultural scientists were busy developing better breeds of plants and animals, and new techniques to stop insects from destroying entire crops. Research conducted by Edward F. Knipling of the USDA, using the sterile insect technique led to the eventual eradication of the screwworm, a parasite that had caused severe losses to livestock for many years. -
The Changing American Diet
American eating habits changed along with American lifestyles. In 1954 T.V. dinners were introduced and became an instant success. Fast food restaurants became popular after the first McDonald's franchise was bought in 1955. More and more prepared foods entered the marketplace while supermarkets began to replace the corner grocery store. The frozen food industry boomed as Americans bought larger refrigerator-freezers and sought more convenience foods. -
Mid-Century Farm Bills
With the end of the Korean War came new farm bills to assist the United States government in dealing with a surplus of commodities such as corn, cotton, and wheat. Both the Agricultural Act of 1954 and the Agricultural Act of 1956 dealt with issues with supply and demand that lingered following the boom in production surrounding the Korean War. -
Peace, Prosperity, and Growth
As the 1950s drew to a close, a revolution in American agriculture was in full bloom. Low-cost fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonia, were widely used to renew the nutrients in exhausted soil. New pesticides and herbicides also led to even greater increases in farm productivity. By 1960 a farmer could produce sixty bushels of corn per acre. By 1961 one farmer could feed twenty-seven people, compared to feeding only eleven people in 1940. -
Food for Peace
President Kennedy felt obligated to reach out to the rural poor and help small-scale farmers. Direct federal payments to farmers between 1959 and 1962 more than doubled, to $1.7 billion. One of Kennedy's first acts as President was the expansion of food programs to assist needy families throughout the United States. Using the model of programs from the 1930s, the USDA expanded the school milk program and piloted a new Food Stamp Program to use America's abundance.