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Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “This Land of Ours”
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. A farmland auction usually draws a good-sized crowd, but on a bitter, cold February morning in 2025, temperatures outside in central Iowa nearly zero, a group so large it was standing room only. Why? They were watching an Iowa farm change hands for the first time since 1882. Six-hundred-thirty-six (636) acres …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. One-room schoolhouses are part of American agriculture history, the Eureka Schoolhouse in Springfield, Vermont, one of the earliest recorded one-room schools built in 1785. As settlers moved west, the one-room schoolhouse model moved with them. Abraham Lincoln attended a one-room school in 1822 in rural Illinois. One-room schools were still being …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Farmland values have always been part of American agriculture history. Recent stories indicate that farmland values in some areas of the country are leveling off or even declining. But, in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. Such was the case for this farm in October 2024, 90 acres, 20 …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. One-room schoolhouses are a part of American agriculture history. Early settlers knew the importance of education, and since a large portion of the population lived in small rural communities or isolated rural areas, local one-room schools were the answer, often built by nearby farmers. In fact, most of the teachers early …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Ethnicity certainly has made a difference in agriculture history in the United States. German Americans brought with them practices and traditions that were quite different from those of the English and Scottish farmers. They adapted old world techniques to a much more abundant land supply than they had. For example, they …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. When one thinks of inventions that change the face of American agriculture, things like the steam engine, threshing machine, the cotton gin, and moldboard plow come to mind. But high on that list, and one that many times slips by our memories, fertilizer. The actual history of fertilizer likely goes back …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Once early settlers navigated the rough Appalachian Mountains, they found vast stretches of undeveloped land in what is now central and western Tennessee. The early settlers often received land grants for military service. Standard grants came in the form of 640-acre blocks. Even today, a gift of 640 acres seems generous, …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early settlers relied on friends and close neighbors for information on practices that would improve their production. Neighbors of course provided the most immediate information as letters from the east took weeks or longer to reach what is now the Midwest and Plains. Congressional passage of the Morrill Act in 1862 …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. French settlers arrived at what is now St. Louis in the early 1700s. They remained on the east bank of the Mississippi until about 1750 when a new settlement, Ste. Geneviève, Missouri, across the river was constructed. Though in present day Missouri, the settlement at the time was still thought to …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Missouri was nationally known for the quality and quantity of its mules. The state produced a superior breed of mules. Some were used on the western trails. Larger number were used on southern plantations. The industry provided a full-time livelihood for a few traders and feeders, but it supplemented the income …
