Figure 1.--When thinking about World War II, weaponry and the stratehic material that built them receive the greatest attentoio that receiuve the greatest attention, but food was also vital. The lack of food was a major factor in the World War I Russian revolution and a major factor in the defeat of Germany. America played a key role in preventing famine after the War. Russia had been Europe's bread basket, but Stalin killed many of the country's best farmers as part of the collectivization Program. The NAZI approach was to seize food in occupied countries and let those people go hungary. There was actually an organized NAZI effort--the Hunger Plan. Millions od people were designated to merely go hungary. Others were to starve. So it would be principally up to America and Canada to proivide food for the World War II war effort. Ther United States was not only the only major industrial power that was self-sufficent in food prodiction, but had the capacity to help feed its allies.

The mechanization of American culture continued even furher with the development of the intenal combustion engine. As a result the United States would help feed the Allies during World War I initiate relief programs and prevent starvation first in Belgium and then the rest of Europe after the War. American farmers experienced trying times after the war because they had expanded so much during the War (1920s). They were doubly hit by the Depressionand the Dust Bowl (1930s). The Roosevelt's Adminitration's New Deal struggle to assist farmers by both restricting production and modenizing the sector. Farmers also played a key role in World War II, feeding the Allies and preventing starvation after the war. The American population steadily shifted to urban areas throughout the 20th century, but even with a smaller workforce farmers continued to increase production. And agriculture continues to be an important export commodity. The stady urbanization and economic devlopment especially of Asia means that the demand for agriculture products is steadily growing.

The 1900s

America by the turn of the 20th century had become the most important industrial power in the world. It was also the leading producer of agricurural commodituies. And despite the rappudlky expanding ndutry, mist Amnriucns still lived on fams abd in rural aeas. For most countries developments on farms had little impact on other countries, even neighboring countries. Not so America. America is an exceptional country which the Europeans already knew. Thus is why millions of Europeans came to America. What the Europeans did not know at the beginning of the decade waa that American farmers would save millions of lives throughout the continent. American agriculture expanded in the 19th century primarily by expanding the area of land under cultivation. By 1900 the huge increases would come to an end. The lsnd undercultivtion increased 5 percent in the 1900s. [U.S. Census, 1910.] This was, however, was relatively small invcease coompred to the 19th century decades. There was concern that popultion was increasing faster than food production, but developments in the 1900s would raducally increase productivity. The prioblem the Amerricn farmer woukd face in the 20th century would ver production. From now on increased agricultural productioin would have to come from improved productivity. Some of hic could come from imcreased improvemnt and cropping. [Coulter, p. 8.] Important resrrch was being conducted in agricuktural technology at land grabt universities. Of special intest was George Washington Carver, director of agricultural research at Tuskegee Institute. He did pioneeing reserach finding new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, making imprtant prigress in diversify southern agriculture (1900s). Congress passed the Reclamation Act facilitating irrigation projects (1902). Another major milesone was Congress passing the Food and Drug Act, commiting the Federal Government to badly needed action in food safety (1906). President Roosevelt established a Country Life Commission which began to assess many rural issues (1908). At the beggining of the decade, the farmer was still deondant on horse powser. There had been considerable medchaniztion , but mostly still with hotsepower. A virtually unknown automobile mnufcturer, Henry Ford, began producing the ?Model-T Ford Tin Lizzie (1908). It was a game changer, he designed a car the average wotrker coukd zfford and then mass oproduced it. American was already the greatest indutria power on earth, the automobile turmed Ameriuca into an industrial giant far beyond the output of the major European powers. There woud was, however, very significant consequence for rural America. Motorized cars, trucks, and tractors began replcing horses leading to a huge increase in productivity. This would significntly increase the productivity of the American farmer. The atomobile would signiicantly reduced the isoltion of rural America significantly increasing mobility.

The 1910s

American farmers saved millions of people in Europe during the decade, both during and after World war I. No other people in world history had ever attempted such a humanitarian effort on basically altruistic motives and on such a massibe scle. And it was all possible because of the American farmer. No country produced more food than America. America at the time of World War I was a major food producer. It not only was self sufficent in most agricultural commodities, but also exported large quantities of grains and other food products. The few products that America had to import were products that were best grown in tropical regions, particularly sugar and coffee. The United States also imported vegetable oils. [Mullendore] Major developments occured in rural America during the 1910s. Farm credit was a major issue. About a third of the more than 90 million Americans lived in rural areas (1910). Russia in the early-20th century was the European breadbasket, exporting large quantities of grain. The industrialized countries of Western Europe (espcially Britain, Germany and the Lowlands) had to important food to feed their workers. France with its especially abundant land was in a little better shape. World War I created an enormous demand for agricultural products. Farmers and farm workers were conscripted throughout Europe for military service. Fertilizer factories were converted for munitions production. This and the the destruction of War substantially reduced agricultural production. The Central Powers could not import from Russia, the European breadbasket or from overseas because of the Allied naval embargo. Farm production in Europe fell along with the devestation and shifting of priorities to war production. Shortages in Russia, Germny, and Austria-Hungary undermined the imperial regimes. The Allies, especially Britain did import and in large quantity. American farmers thus played an important role even before America declared war on Germany. And the increased demand affects American farming. The markets created and the resulting price increases meant boom years for American farmers and a rush to expand plantings. Great Planes farmers expand dryland farming. Farm workers appear from Mexico, both as a result ofthe Mexican Revolution andthe need for workers as production increased. New Government prigrams are untriduced such as the Stock Raising Homestead Act (1916). Imprioved mechanized equipment appears such as large opengeared gas tractors (1910), closed gear tractors (1915), and small prarie combines (1918). The Northern Plains states (North Dakota, Kansas, and Minnesota) become the principal wheat producing states. As a result of experiments with different wheat strains, durum wheats becomes an important commercial crop. The effort to increase production meant that grain farmers were moving into the most arid area of the Great Plains. Marquis wheat was introduced (1912) Kansas red wheat was introduced (1917). Henry Fors's Model-T and country road building significantly increased the mobility of farmers and the access to small farm equipment like tractors. The Rural Post Roads Act begins regular Federal subsidies to road building (1916). The American railroad network peaked at 254,000 miles (1916) providing the farmer unparalleded market access. The Government once America entered the War (1917), encouraged American farmers to increase production and they responded with major increases in planting and land utilization. Thus during the War, the Allies did not face the same problems with food that Austria-Hungary and Germany faced. After the War, the United States fed a prostrate Europe, averting widespread starvartion. Herbert Hoover and U.S. Food Administration played a major role in that effort. Virtually every European country would recieve American Relief assistance, including the Soviet Union whose new leaders were pledged to destroying America.

The 1920s

American farmers continued to feed Europe in the early-1920s. American food not only saved defeated Germans from starving, but people in most other European countris. This included the new Soviet Union. As Europe recovered from the Great War, agricultural production throughout the Continent gradually recovered and returned to more normal levels. In fact because of the World War I food crisis, many Governments wanted to promote added agricultural output in case of any future emergency. This left American farmers who had so significantly expanded production without the markets needed for their significantly expanded output. Farm prices thus declined percipitously. The U.S. Government which incouraged farmers to expand production did not plan how to help farmers adjust to a more normal demand structure. There was simply no need for the huge harvests that American farmers were now producing. Thus the American farmer came on hard times almost a decade before before the Wall street crash (1929). As urban Americans reveled in the Roaring Twenties, an unprecedented econonomic expansion occurred creating unrivale prosperity. American farmers experienced, however, an economic decline which reached depression levels. The reluctance of power companies to run lines into rural areas impeded needed efforts to modernize farm life and operations. The abundance of land gave many American farners that they could practice destructive farm practices and just move on. The impact of plowing up the Great Planes was given little thought. The 1920s was an era of abundant rainfall. At the end of the decade, as drought descended on on the Great Plains, the environmental impact of poor farming practices would result in an enviromental nightmare. American farms even before Henry Ford's Model-T Tin Lizzy were the most mechanized farms in the world. The intenal combustion engine would only expand that mechanization. The Model-T helped helped connect farms to the the urban society. And soon tractors would begin to increase farm productivity. Tractors appeared in the 19th century with steam engines, but they made no real impact until the perfection of the intenal comustion engine. Companies begqn making tractors powered by the internal combustion engine after the turn of the century, but for a time the horse was more practical. This began to change in the 1910s as various companies began making tractors. John Deere had created the first steel plow (1837) and was a leder in farm equipment. They produced the first combine (1927). The first General Purpose Tractor was introduced (1928).

The 1930s

The Depression changed the lives of people who lived throughout rural America. The Depression in rural America actually began a decade before the Great Depression. The United States experienced after World War I experienced recession (1918-19) followed by a severe depression (1920-21). Urban America quickly recovered and enjoyed a decade of economic expansion and growth. Rural America never recovered. And this was made even worse when the farmers on the Great Plains had to contend with a severe drought. Unappreciated by the pioneers that settled on the Great Planes after the Civil War, they were settling down on a fragile environmental system. The term eco-system had not yet entered the vocabulary. This was suddenly brought home by the dust storms and the new term Dust Bowl. The New Deal was particularly concerned about rural America. A majority of Americans now lived in cities, but there was still a very substantial farm population, much larger than is the case today. The New Seal included several programs to both assist rural Americans survive during the Depression as well as to try to correct the endemic farm problem. While the drought and resulting dust storms were the most visible problem, farmers experienced other problems, including insects, summer heat and winter cold. Mos farmers still did not have heat, light or indoor bathrooms as were now standard in the cities. Farm families raised most of their own food – eggs and chickens, milk, meat from their own pigs and cows, and vegetables from carefully tended gardens. This put them at an advantage from many city families when th fathers lost their jobs--as long as they didn't lose their land. Tragically many farm families did, this include both farm owners and share croppers. Many farm families moved away. The best known are the Oakies hard hit by the the Dust storms, many of ho headed West. Many blacks share croppers headed north, part of the Great Migration which began after World War I. Some young men found government jobs building roads and bridges. Others found work with the CCC or WPA. One of the earliest New Deal efforts was the Agriculture Adjustment Act (1933) which was ultimately ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The Farm Security Administration (FSA) combined a range of disparate programs to assist farmers. Many of the AAA and FSA programs are controversial with economists still debating the impact. Some attempted to reform the free market. Other embraced collectivist approaches. Efforts to boost farm prices are especially controversial. One program which undeniably improved farm life and productivity was the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). This made farm life not only easier and safer, but American farmers vastly more productive. And efforts to improve farming methods also had an important impact. Ultimately it was the weather and Adolf Hitler who revived the fortunes of rural America. Normal rainfall patterns resumed allowing farmers who managed to keep their land to resume normal operations (1940). And Adolf Hitler by launching World War II created a vast demand for farm products with European and Asian agricultural production disrupted by the War.

The 1940s

Hitler and Stalin launched World War II with the invasion of Poland (Septembr 1939). The run up to the War had jump started industrial recovery from the Great Depression (laste-1930s). The War would creatre a huge demand for American agricultural products. Most European counties tried to stay out of the War, but with onky a few exceptions, this proved impossible. American agricultural exportsbegan dropping as German U-boats begsn sinking merchant shipping heading to Britain. The Royal Navy blockade made it impossible to ship to Germany and German occupied Europe. Agricultural exports plumetted. The demand was there. Britain was not self-sufficent in food priductoon. The problem was getting the food through U-boat infested waters. American farm exports plummeted 30-40 percent from the Depression years of the 1930s. The all important grain exportswere down 20 percent during the first war year (September 1939-August 1940). There was a huge demand for food in Europe. Gerrman miklitary successes in the first years of the War gave the Hitler control of much of Europe. German occupation policies was not only seize food and ship it back to the Reich, but to deny food to targeted people--the NAZI Hunger Plan. American food could not help many of them. Even the nuural countries were affected. But American food helped keep Britain and the Soviet Union in the War. The America heartlamnd wsas the only major agricultural area unimped by the War. Latin America was also important, but on the same scale as the United States becuse much og LatinAmerican agriculture was near subsistence farming. President Roosevelt committed the U.S. Navy to protect the convoys to Britain (19400. America would evenbtually launch a huge effort with Britain and Canada to defeat the German U-boat campaign. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act (1941). Lend Lease essentially gave Britain a blank check to purchase American war supplies, including food. Lend Lease not only provided Britain despetrately needed food, but finaced an export ptogram for American farmers. American farmers no longer had a problemn selling their product. Now they had trouble producing enough food to fill needed orders. Farm income farm income increased. It was higher than at any time was higher than any year since 1929. Farm income increased from $4.4 billion to an amazing $12.3 billion (1940-45). The average American farmer went from a net income of $700 to nearly $2,100. That was a huge increase, yet far below what urban Americans were earning. The Japanese carrier assault on Pearl Harbor brought America into the War (December 1941). This created another huge purchaser of farm products. American servicemen unlike Axis servicemen did not live off the land and take food from civilians, let alone ship food back to America. They were fed by the American farmer. The Govermnent now instread of incouraging farmers to limit productrion, began pleading with them to produce more. Farmers and food producers stepped up to do just that. A good example is SPAM. Hormel introduced SPAM, a now famous canned meat product (1930s). It was not created for the military, but was udeal for military purposes. I could be shipped withoit refigeration. And as it was canned did not spoil i=under the most adverse cionditions. Hormel was soon producing 15 million cans of Spam for the troops every week. (0.8 billiom cases a year. Hormel needed 1.6 million hogs each year. Some 90 percent of the SPAM webt to the milirary. SPAM also went to American allies. SPAM became a Russian word. It became a hufe part of tge Red Army meat ration. Food stuffs were an important bopart ofLend Lease deliverises to bioth the Brutih and Sioviets. The American farmer faced real problems to increase production. A major problenm was fimdinf farm workers. Their workrrs were being drafted or taking off for the city wear higher paying wages were being paid in war industries. They also faced many new regulations and bew regulatory agencies. Farmers could not just order farm equioment. Steel went to arms industry. Some allocations were made for tracxrits and farm equioment, but they had to deal with the War Production Board. And to ship products to market, they had to deal with the Office of Defense Transportation. Farm labor issues handled by the War Manpower Commission. The Bracero Orogram provided Mexican farm workers. Farm prices were reguklated by set by Congress and Office of Price Administration. The War Food Administration was created to handled Departmrnt of Agriculture farm programs.

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1990s

Rural America had been tranformed ny the end of the centuru. Farm had become concentrated on a a much small number of larger, specialized farms in rural areas where only about 25 pent of the population livred. The farms had highly productive and mechanized. The employ oinly a tiny share of U.S. workers and use some 5 million tractors in place of the horses and mules used at the beginning of the century. American agriculture has become extroduinariluy efficient and has made an important contributed to the overall growth of the U.S. economy. Farm out put has increased reamrrkably. As a result, consumers sprnd a much smaller portion of their income on food, despite the higher nominal prices. This has also mean that Ameriuca has had the workforceneeded to expand the nonfarm sectors, spurring economic growth and development. This has been made possible by mechinaizxation anmd other advances syuch as high yielding and disease-resistant crop varities. The food and agriculture sector, however, continues to play an important role in the national economy, even though farming has contributed a steadily drclining portion of gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture contunues to be an imprtant pat of export eranings.

Sources

Coulter, J.L. "Agricultural developmnt in the United States," The Quarterly Journals of Economics Vol. 27, No. 1 (Novemner 1912), pp.-26.

U.S. Census, 1910.

Created: June 28, 2003
Last updated: 10:42 AM 11/15/2021