Author: Gilbert Courtland FitePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture and state
Languages : en
Pages : 42
Book Description
American Agriculture and Farm Policy Since 1900
Author: Gilbert Courtland FitePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture and state
Languages : en
Pages : 42
Book Description
A Revolution Down on the Farm
Author: Paul ConkinPublisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813173159
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
At a time when food is becoming increasingly scarce in many parts of the world and food prices are skyrocketing, no industry is more important than agriculture. Humans have been farming for thousands of years, and yet agriculture has undergone more fundamental changes in the past 80 years than in the previous several centuries. In 1900, 30 million American farmers tilled the soil or tended livestock; today there are fewer than 4.5 million farmers who feed a population four times larger than it was at the beginning of the century. Fifty years ago, the planet could not have sustained a population of 6.5 billion; now, commercial and industrial agriculture ensure that millions will not die from starvation. Farmers are able to feed an exponentially growing planet because the greatest industrial revolution in history has occurred in agriculture since 1929, with U.S. farmers leading the way. Productivity on American farms has increased tenfold, even as most small farmers and tenants have been forced to find other work. Today, only 300,000 farms produce approximately ninety percent of the total output, and overproduction, largely subsidized by government programs and policies, has become the hallmark of modern agriculture. A Revolution Down on the Farm: The Transformation of American Agriculture since 1929 charts the profound changes in farming that have occurred during author Paul K. Conkin’s lifetime. His personal experiences growing up on a small Tennessee farm complement compelling statistical data as he explores America’s vast agricultural transformation and considers its social, political, and economic consequences. He examines the history of American agriculture, showing how New Deal innovations evolved into convoluted commodity programs following World War II. Conkin assesses the skills, new technologies, and government policies that helped transform farming in America and suggests how new legislation might affect farming in decades to come. Although the increased production and mechanization of farming has been an economic success story for Americans, the costs are becoming increasingly apparent. Small farmers are put out of business when they cannot compete with giant, non-diversified corporate farms. Caged chickens and hogs in factory-like facilities or confined dairy cattle require massive amounts of chemicals and hormones ultimately ingested by consumers. Fertilizers, new organic chemicals, manure disposal, and genetically modified seeds have introduced environmental problems that are still being discovered. A Revolution Down on the Farm concludes with an evaluation of farming in the twenty-first century and a distinctive meditation on alternatives to our present large scale, mechanized, subsidized, and fossil fuel and chemically dependent system.
American Agriculture
Author: R. Douglas HurtPublisher: Purdue University Press
ISBN: 9781557532817
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450
Book Description
R. Douglas Hurt's brief history of American agriculture, from the prehistoric period through the twentieth century, is written for anyone coming to this subject for the first time. American Agriculture is a story of considerable achievement and success, but it is also a story of greed, racism, and violence. Hurt offers a provocative look at a history that has been shaped by the best and worst of human nature. Here is the background essential for understanding the complexity of American agricultural history, from the transition to commercial agriculture during the colonial period to the failure of government policy following World War II. Complete with maps, drawings, and over seventy splendid photographs, this revised edition closes with an examination of the troubled landscape at the turn of the twenty-first century. It also provides a ready reference to the economic, social, political, scientific, and technological changes that have most affected farming in America and the contributions of African Americans, Native Americans, and women. This survey will serve as a text for courses in the history of American agriculture and rural studies as well as a supplementary text for economic history and rural sociology courses.
The Development of American Agriculture
Author: Willard W. CochranePublisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 9781452900537
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 524
Book Description
Topical Studies and References on the Economic History of American Agriculture
Author: Louis Bernard SchmidtPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
The Policy Process in American Agriculture
Author: Ross B. TalbotPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural policies and programs
Languages : en
Pages : 410
Book Description
Problems of Plenty
Author: R. Douglas HurtPublisher: Ivan R. Dee Publisher
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
A compact narrative history of American agriculture over the last century, emphasizing the farmer's growing reliance on the federal government.
Readings in the Economic History of American Agriculture
Author: Louis Bernard SchmidtPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 616
Book Description
Perspectives on the structure of American agriculture
Author: Rural America, IncPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
Readings in the History of American Agriculture
Author: Wayne David RasmussenPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 376
Book Description