Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Biofuels/Energy”
The Windmill’s Enduring Role in American Agriculture For centuries, windmills have played a vital role in agricultural production around the world. Long before electricity reached rural communities, farmers relied on the power of the wind to pump water, support livestock operations, and sustain life in some of the most remote farming regions. According to agricultural historian Mark Oppold, the story …
A Look Back at Life on the Farm Before Electricity For much of America’s agricultural history, rural life operated without one of the modern conveniences most people take for granted today: electricity. While cities and towns embraced electric power during the early decades of the 20th century, millions of farm families remained in the dark. According to agricultural historian Mark …
The U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, recently joined up with the Tennessee Governor, Bill Lee, to try to slow down putting solar panels in the farming land areas across the country. According to the report, they said that USDA now will no longer fund taxpayer dollars to solar panels on productive farmland or allow solar panels manufactured by foreign adversaries to be …
Life on the Farm Before Electricity As late as the mid-1930s, nearly nine out of every ten rural homes in America still lived without electric service. While cities across the nation were rapidly modernizing with electric lights, appliances, and industrial growth, much of rural America remained in conditions that had changed little for generations. Farm families depended on manual labor …
The Beginning of Rural Electrification In the early 1930s, much of rural America lived without electricity. While cities were rapidly modernizing with electric lights, refrigeration, and indoor plumbing, many farming communities still relied on kerosene lamps, wood stoves, and hand-pumped water systems. According to historian and broadcaster Mark Oppold in this edition of the American Agriculture History Minute, the push …
Life Before Electricity on the Farm By 1930, rural life in America looked vastly different from what we know today. More than 90% of rural homes still relied on kerosene lamps for lighting. When the sun went down, so did most daily activity. Illumination was dim, limited, and often hazardous. Without electricity, running water systems and indoor bathrooms were largely …
A simple introduction to a powerful turning point in rural America. The arrival of electricity to farms in the 1930s didn’t just bring light; it transformed agriculture, rural economies, and everyday life. The Push for Rural Electrification When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, one of the major disparities facing the nation was the lack of electricity in rural …
The Early 1900s: Electricity as a Luxury In the early 20th century, electricity was not the everyday utility we know today—it was considered a luxury. As shared by agricultural broadcaster Mark Oppold in his American Agriculture History Minute, electrification was still in its infancy, and access to electric power was limited primarily to urban areas. The 1920s: A Growing Urban …
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced an expanded partnership with the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM). This partnership is expected to increase domestic ag production and exports, while reducing the ag trade deficit. In addition to this partnership, USDA also announced the launch of the Financial Assurance to Revitalize Markets Initiative, an effort to strengthen and modernize …
Bottom Line analysts remind us that restarting and restocking the oil pipeline worldwide is not going to be a quick process. Ships indeed may be moving through the Strait of Hormuz, but analysts say it will take up to a month for some ships leaving to reach their destination. Those incoming ships, they say, will pull supplies from storage facilities that filled up prior …
