I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. We like to think that early American farmers and ranchers were good stewards of the soil, like farmers and ranchers are …
American Agriculture History Minute: Settling and Farming the Plains
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Iowa is located where the great eastern forests and the prairies of the western United States met. There’s not a straight …
American Agriculture History Minute: Homestead Act of 1862
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. By 1813, the western frontier had reached the Mississippi River. St. Louis was the largest town on the frontier and it …
American Agriculture History Minute: Plantation Agriculture Begins
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Plantation agriculture began in the 1600s and 1700s. Developed in Virginia, first of all, and then spreading to Maryland where tobacco …
American Agriculture History Minute: Radio Introduced to Rural America
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Radio is an important part in the history of American agriculture. Broadcasting information to rural America started very soon after the …
American Agriculture History Minute: Learning Soil Preservation by Crop Rotation
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early settlers, unfortunately, tended to be careless with the use and care of their soil. This was the case across the …
American Agriculture History Minute: Early Settlers Crop Progression
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The first settlers in Plymouth Colony planted mostly barley and peas with seeds they brought with them from England. But their …
American Agriculture History Minute: Ethnicity in Early Agriculture
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Ethnicity made a big difference in early American agriculture. German Americans, for example, brought with them practices and traditions that were …
American Agriculture History Minute: British Attempt to Restrict Westward Movement
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Westward expansion in the U .S. did not come easy or did not come early on. The British Empire attempted to …
American Agriculture History Minute: Draft Horses Imported for Farm Work
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Horses and oxen provided a lot of the power on American farms until the mid -1800s. Oxen were too slow to …
American Agriculture History Minute: How Crops Migrated West
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In the 1850s, there was a great push, migration to the west, finally crossing the Mississippi River and settling in Iowa, …
American Agriculture History Minute: Ag Hall of Fame First Inductees
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. There’s a Hall of Fame for every major sport and many institutions, and so it is with agriculture. The Ag Hall …
American Agriculture History Minute: Crop Adjustments After the Civil War
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. During the Civil War, wheat prices were higher. Many producers planted more wheat. With the end of the war, the bottom …
American Agriculture History Minute: Trade, Barter, Pay Taxes
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. As settlers moved west across the Mississippi River, great expansion continued. Early farmers planted crops that supplied their families and livestock …