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Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “American Agriculture History Minute”
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early settlers found a lot to like once they crossed the Appalachians and settled in states like Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. But there was not much to like about Colorado. According to historians, when first settlers arrived there, in fact, many decided the difficult trail through the Rockies onto Oregon …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Machinery, livestock, and crops have always been needed to be moved around the farm or to market. Two-wheel carts suffice for early settlers. Soon four-wheeled wagons became the norm and were universally used for two centuries. Now it’s impossible, historians say, to pin down the first motor truck. But the first …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Soybeans were not widely cultivated in the U.S. until the early 1930s, but by 1942, the U.S. became the world’s largest soybean producer. Due, in part, to World War II and the need for fats, oils, and soybean meal. Between 1930 and 1942, the U.S. share of world soybean production grew …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Joseph Dart is part of American agriculture history. Though born in Connecticut, he soon moved to Buffalo, New York and it was there he conceived of a machine powered grain elevator and in 1842 put one into service, the first in America. Known as Dart’s elevator, other grain elevators were later …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In 1885, Harriet Strong made a study about the shortage of water in Nevada, including control of floodwaters and water storage. She advocated conservation as a flood remedy, proposing a succession of dams to conserve the water for irrigation purposes and the generation of electricity. In 1887, she was granted a …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Wheat production grew as new railroads connected farms and markets. In between 1875 and 1890, bonanza farms, as they were called, were created especially in the Red River Valley. They were funded by rich businessmen from the east. Wheat farms covered thousands of acres, hundreds of horses used, and huge teams …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early settlers in Minnesota soon discovered they could not grow the same variety of wheat as their counterparts in Nebraska and Kansas, and they soon discovered a more suitable spring wheat. However, they had not yet developed a process to remove the dark bran to produce pure white flour. That all …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. It was called the National Road. No, not Route 66. That would come nearly 100 years later. This National Road, built in 1810, was the first road, though paved in gravel, to cross the Appalachians, connecting Ohio and states west with the east coast. Prior to this, once settlers crossed the …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Once early settlers crossed the Appalachians, many had had enough of that kind of rough travel and settled in what is now eastern and central Ohio. Europeans continued to rely on agriculture as a primary means of feeding their families and of course, withstanding the winter to come. Most raised wheat …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In 1820, Ohio Governor Ethan Brown established the Ohio Canal Commission, the purpose of surveying a route for a canal that would connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. But the U.S. government stood in the way, refusing to sell the land that was needed and the Commission was dissolved. Well, …
