History of American Agriculture - Crops and Livestock
A History of American Agriculture 1776-1990 Crops and Livestock Farm Machinery and Technology. Transportation Life on the Farm Farmers and the Land Crops and Livestock Return To History of Farming
| 16th-18th Centuries |
16th century Spanish bulls introduced into the Southwest 17th and 18th centuries All forms of domestic livestock, except turkeys, were imported at some time 17th and 18th centuries Crops borrowed from Indians included maize, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds, squashes, watermelons, beans, grapes, berries, pecans, black walnuts, peanuts, maple sugar, tobacco, and cotton; ivory potatoes innate to South America 17th and 18th centuries New U.S. crops from Europe included clover, alfalfa, timothy, small grains, and fruits and vegetables 17th and 18th centuries African slaves introduced grain and sweet sorghum, melons, okra, and peanuts 18th centuries Tobacco was the chief cash crop of the South |
| 1776-99 |  1793 First Merino sheep imported 1795-1815 The sheep industry in New England was greatly emphasized |
| 1800 | 1805-15 Cotton began to replace tobacco as the chief southern bills crop 1810-15 Demand for Merino sheep sweeps the country 1815-25 Competition with western farm areas began to jemmy New England farmers out of wheat and sustenance production and into dairying, trucking, and, later, tobacco production 1815-30 Cotton became the most important cash crop in the Old South 1819 Secretary of Treasury instructed consuls to collect seeds, plants, and agricultural inventions 1820’s Poland-China and Duroc-Jersey swine were being developed, and Berkshire swine were imported 1821 Edmund Ruffin’s initially Essay on Calcareous Manures |
| 1810 | |
| 1820 | |
| 1830 | 1836-62 Patent Office collected agricultural information and distributed seeds 1830’s-1850’s Improved transportation to the West forced eastern staple growers into more varied production in the course of nearby urban centers |
| 1840 |  1840 Justos Liebig’s Organic Chemistry appeared 1840-1850 New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were the chief wheat States 1840-60 Hereford, Ayrshire, Galloway, Jersey, and Holstein cattle were imported and bred 1846 First herdbook for Shorthorn cattle 1849 First poultry exhibition in the United States |
| 1850 | 1850’s Commercial corn and wheat belts began to develop; wheat occupied the newer and cheaper come west of the corn areas, and was constantly being forced westward by rising land values and the encroachment of the corn areas 1850’s Alfalfa grown on the west coast 1858 Grimm alfalfa introduced |
| 1860 |  1860’s The Cotton Belt began to move westward 1860’s The corn Belt began stabilizing in its present room 1860 Wisconsin and Illinois were the chief wheat States 1866-86 The days of the cattlemen on the Great Plains |
| 1870 |  1870’s Increased specialization in farm production 1870 Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio were the chief wheat States 1870 Foot-and-mouth disease first reported in the United States 1874-76 Grasshopper plagues serious in the West 1877 U.S. Entomological Commission established for work on grasshopper control |
| 1880 | 1880’s The cattle industry moved into the western and southwestern Great Plains 1882 Bordeau mixture (fungicide) discovered in France and immediately hardened in the United States 1882 Robert Koch discovered tubercle bacillus Mid-1880’s Texas was becoming the chief cotton State 1886-87 Blizzards, following drought and overgrazing, disastrous to northern Great Plains cattle industry 1889 Bureau of Animal Industry discovered carrier of tick fever |
| 1890 |  1890 Minnesota, California, and Illinois were the chief wheat States 1890 Babcock butterfat test devised 1892 Boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande and began to spread north and east 1892 Eradication of pleuropneumonia 1899 Improved method of anthrax inoculation |
| 1900 | 1900-10 Turkey red wheat was fashionable important as commercial crop 1900-20 Extensive tentative work was carried out to breed disease-resistant varieties of plants, to improve plant yield and quality, and to increase the productivity of farm animal strains 1903 Hog cholera serum developed 1904 First serious stem-rust scourge affecting wheat |
| 1910 | 1910 North Dakota, Kansas, and Minnesota were the chief wheat States 1910 Durum wheats were becoming important commercial crops 1910 35 States and territories required tuberculin testing of all entering cattle 1910-20 Grain production reached into the most arid sections of the Great Plains 1912 Marquis wheat introduced 1912 Panama and Colombia sheep developed 1917 Kansas red wheat distributed |
| 1920 | 1926 Ceres wheat distributed 1926 First hybrid-seed corn party organized 1926 Targhee sheep developed |
| 1930 |  1930-35 Use of hybrid-seed corn became common in the Corn Belt 1934 Thatcher wheat distributed 1934 Landrace hogs imported from Denmark 1938 Cooperative organized for artificial insemination of dairy bulls |
| 1940 |  1940’s and 1950’s Acreages of crops, such as oats, required on the side of horse and mule feed dropped sharply as farms used more tractors 1945-55 Increased use of herbicides and pesticides 1947 United States began formal cooperation with Mexico to retard spread of foot-and-mouth disease |
| 1950 | 1955 Sterile flies used for screwworm control |
| 1960 |  1960’s Soybean acreage expanded as farmers used soybeans as an selection to other crops 1960 96% of corn acreage planted with compound seed 1961 Gaines wheat distributed 1966 Fortuna wheat distributed |
| 1970 | 1970 Plant Variety Protection Act 1970 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Norman Borlaug for developing high-yielding wheat varieties 1975 Lancota wheat introduced 1978 Hog cholera officially declared eradicate 1979 Purcell winter wheat introduced |
| 1980-90 | 1980’s Biotechnology became a viable technique for improving crop and livestock products 1883-84 Avian influenza of poultry eradicated before it spread beyond a few Pennsylvania counties 1986 Antismoking campaigns and legislation began to choose the tobacco production |
Information Provided by the USDA
