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. In 1850, it’s estimated it took 75 to 90 labor hours to produce 100 bushels of corn, and that would take 2.5 to 3 acres. By 1890, that reduced to 35 to 40 labor hours to produce the same 100 bushels, but still took 2.5 to 3 acres of corn. But …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The history of the state of Michigan is an interesting one. After the British were defeated in the Revolutionary War, the Treaty of Paris expanded the U.S. boundary to include all the land east of the Mississippi and south of Canada. Michigan was then part of the old Northwest Territory, and, …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Michigan farmers produce over 300 different types of food and agriculture products. Some you might be familiar with, others you may not. Michigan ranks first in the nation for tart cherry production and fourth for sweet cherries. They rank sixth in the nation for the production of milk and first in …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. John Holmes is part of American agriculture history. He was born in Massachusetts, moved to Michigan in 1835. The rise of scientific agriculture in Europe, the first half of the 19th century, and the desire for formal agricultural education at the college level, caught his attention. He was president of the …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Prior to the 1800s, most of the tools and equipment farmers and ranchers used were handmade. The growing use of factory-made agricultural equipment increased farmer production and encouraged more commercial farming. These developments included: That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time. …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Agricultural production continued to expand in the early 1800s, but still by 1850, it took 75 to 90 labor hours to produce 100 bushels of corn, and that took 2.5 to 3 acres. That would begin to change. 1862 to 1875 signaled a major change in agriculture from hand power to …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In 1850, it’s estimated that it took 75 to 90 labor hours to produce 100 bushels of corn and took about two and a half to three acres to do that. By 1890, that was reduced to 35 to 40 labor hours but the same 100 bushels and two and a …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Irishman Harry Ferguson is part of American Agriculture History. He’s credited with developing and patent the first hydraulic lift with automatic draft control. By 1933, he had patented a way to attach and implement to a tractor by three arms. Ferguson’s three-point hitch was probably the most revolutionary improvement in tractor …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In the early 1900s, American agriculture continued to expand and diversify. The first ten years of the century, George Washington Carver, who was director of agricultural research at Tuskegee Institute at the time, pioneered finding new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans, and thus helped diversify Southern agriculture. Additionally, the …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The 1870s was the first major agricultural revolution with moving from hand power to horsepower. But also in the 1870s, silos came into use for the first time. Elsewhere in the 1870s, deep well drilling was first widely used and, an important patent, barbed wire in 1874. The availability of barbed …
