Agriculture has long been a major part of this country's development. When the States were first discovered the major way to survive was to have some sort of an agricultural system. Agriculture, whether it is farming, ranching, fishing, mining, or whatever, is a major source of income. It also provides this country with a lot of jobs, a lot of natural resources to trade and sell. All the way from the eastern coastal fishing states, to the high cotton fields of the South, to the deep rich fertile soils of the Midwest, to the produce and dairy producing states, agriculture has had a profound impact on the direction the country has come from and where it is going. .
When looking back on the developing trends in agriculture in the United States, I have found three documents that really tell a lot about the way farming in particular has progressed. The three points that I will be discussing are 1. The technological and genetic advances in crops, 2. U.S. Government Intervention and 3. Old time farming versus newer measures. .
Technological and Genetic Advances in Crops.
It is no doubt that we live in a technologically advanced society. Just take a look the next time that you are walking to or from a class and see all of the students talking on their cellular phones. Did farmers have anything this advanced in the 1950's? No, not even close. The great strides that people have gone to make sure that we are technologically advanced are amazing. .
I found an article from the September 1959 Prairie Farmer magazine that advertises a corn company's corn. The corn averaged about 104 bushels to the acre back in 1959. By today's standards 104 bushels is not good at all. A good yield is around 180-220 bushels per acre. You can see by this ad that there have been many advances in the genetic make-up of seeds throughout the years. This company doesn't even exist anymore in today's seed market. There is an amazing amount of research and development going into the production of GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms.