American Agriculture History Minute: Minnesota the Early Flour Capital of the U.S.

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

You wouldn’t think Minnesota would be the flour capital of the U.S., but indeed in 1915 it was. Over 20 million dry barrels of milled flour was being produced annually out of Minnesota and three firms in the Minneapolis area. 20 million would be the peak production of the three and represented 97 percent of the nation’s flour.

The three firms all based in Minneapolis, Standard Milling, and the early forerunners of Pillsbury and General Mills. All three remain major producers of flour today.

That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.