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Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Features”
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Before 1720, most colonists in the mid-Atlantic region worked in small-scale farming operations and they paid for imported manufacturing goods by supplying the West Indies with corn and flour. In New York, a fur-pelt export trade to Europe flourished and added additional wealth to that region. After 1720, mid-Atlantic farming was …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Ethnicity made a difference in early American agriculture. German immigrants brought different practices and traditions to the New World than English, Scottish, or Irish farmers, for example. Each simply carried forward practices from their homeland, but with a lot more land to work with and fertile soil. German farmers, for example, …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Ethnic groups played an important part in early American agriculture. German immigrants brought different practices and traditions than English, Scottish, or Irish farmers, for example. But many immigrants began their careers in agriculture as wage laborers. Merchants and artisans hired teenaged workers paying their transportation from Europe and putting them to …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Jessie Shambaugh is part of American Agriculture History. A farm wife, Shambaugh was very active in her community and very focused on helping young boys and girls get a foothold in agriculture and understand its importance. In 1910, she developed a clover pin to give some of those young people. Each …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Railroads dramatically changed agriculture and rural America as the country continued to grow. The concept of a rail highway was first conceived by Colonel John Stevens in 1812. The earliest railroads were horse-drawn cars running on tracks. The first chartered railroad was the Granite Railway of Massachusetts, which was approximately three …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The United States Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914. The act enabled producers and their families to receive help in agricultural production, livestock health, home economics. It also included in that Cooperative Extension Service a charter working with young boys and young girls …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In the early 1930s, roughly 9 out of 10 rural homes were still without electric power. Farm families quickly learned to use every minute of sunlight for outdoor chores and lift their homes with kerosene lanterns at night. That would begin to change in May 1933, passage of the Tennessee Valley …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. A central Iowa cattle feeder in the mid-1920s believed he could produce better cattle by paying closer attention to what they ate. His idea was to start with young calves. Feed them quality feed supplements, not just feed loaded with fillers, as he says. So, he developed his own feed. He …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Logos are an important part of any company’s identity. Leaping Deer of John Deere, Checkerboard Square of Ralston Purina. J.I.K. started his implement company in 1847. He wasn’t looking for a company logo at the time, only company sales to keep his company afloat. The Civil War broke out, drawing many …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In 1906, Elias Ammons was president of the Colorado Cattle and Horse Growers Association, later served as governor of Colorado. George Ballantine was general manager of the Denver Union Stockyard Company, and Fred Johnson was publisher of the Record Stockman. These three men in 1906 put together what would become the …
