At the close of the Civil War, a new chapter in American agriculture began across the Kansas prairie. Through government homestead programs, Union Army veterans were offered land as an …
From Mail-Order Roots to Rural Retail Giant: Tractor Supply’s Rise
A Humble Beginning in 1938 American agriculture has always depended on innovation—not just in the field, but in how farmers access the tools they need. In 1938, Charles E. Schmidt …
From Failed Crops to the Wheat State: Early Kansas Agriculture
Settlement and the Promise of Kansas Farmland Early agriculture in the state of Kansas was not always successful. When Kansas was opened to settlement in 1854, waves of settlers began …
Daniel Morgan Boone and the Struggle of Early Kansas Farming
Early Agriculture in Kansas Was Far from Easy Agriculture in what is now the state of Kansas began under extremely difficult conditions. The wide open plains that would later become …
Ellis-Chalmers: Steam Power and the Machinery Behind Early American Agriculture
Reviving a Bankrupt Manufacturing Company American agriculture has long been tied to machinery innovation, and one small but important story in that history begins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the mid-19th …
Colonial Fur Trade and Wheat Demand Shaped Early American Farming
International trade played a powerful role in shaping agriculture in early America. Long before the United States became a global agricultural powerhouse, colonial farmers and traders were already responding to …
Early American Farmers and the Cycle of Moving West
American agriculture has always been shaped by the land—and by how farmers chose to use it. In today’s American Agriculture History Minute, agricultural broadcaster Mark Oppold highlights the work of …
The Hard Lessons of the Great Plains: Early Settler Struggles
Early Settlers vs. Harsh Realities The promise of the Great Plains as fertile, open land for farming drew many settlers westward in the 19th century. However, as Mark Oppold highlights …
The Homestead Act: How Free Land Transformed North American Agriculture
Opening the Frontier to Farmers In the mid-19th century, governments in North America began actively encouraging farmers to settle and cultivate vast areas of frontier land. These policies would dramatically …
The Rise of Open Range Ranching on the Great Plains
A New Era of Cattle Ranching in the American West In the late 19th century, the western Great Plains emerged as one of the most important cattle-producing regions in the …
Early American Farmers Move West After the Revolution
America Pushes West: Farming Beyond the Appalachians Following the end of the American Revolutionary War, a major shift began to reshape the young United States. One of the earliest barriers …
Marietta and the Birth of America’s Northwest Frontier
When many Americans hear the term Northwest Territory today, they often think of the modern Pacific Northwest—states like Montana, Utah, Oregon, and Washington. But in the late 1700s, the meaning …
The Growth of American Agriculture: From Colonial Times to the Mid-20th Century
Agriculture has been at the heart of the United States since its earliest days. From the first English settlers to the expansive farms of the 20th century, the story of …
America’s Westward Expansion and the Transformation of Agriculture
New Opportunities After 1803 Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the American victory in the War of 1812, the United States entered a period of remarkable territorial and economic …