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The rapid growth of population and the expansion of the frontier opened up large numbers of new farms, and clearing the land was a major preoccupation of farmers. After 1800, cotton became the chief crop in southern plantations, and the chief American export.
- Mary Bellis
- Agricultural Advances in the United States, 1775–1889.
- 1776–1800. During the latter part of the 18th century, farmers relied on oxen and horses to power crude wooden plows. All sowing was accomplished using a hand-held hoe, reaping of hay and grain with a sickle, and threshing with a flail.
- 1800–1830. Inventions during the early decades of the 19th century were aimed at automation and preservation. 1800–1830—The era of turnpike building (toll roads) improved communication and commerce between settlements.
- The 1830s. By the 1830s, about 250-300 labor-hours were required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat using a walking plow, brush harrow, hand broadcast of seed, sickle, and flail.
After 1800, the primary market for agricultural products shifted from overseas ports to cities in the United States. Growing urban populations created an ever-increasing demand, not only for standard products like breadstuffs and meat, but for new ones like pears and brooms.
The United States began as a largely rural nation, with most people living on farms or in small towns and villages. While the rural population continued to grow in the late 1800s, the urban population was growing much more rapidly.
Although agricultural activity occurs in every U.S. state, it is particularly concentrated in the Central Valley of California and in the Great Plains, a vast expanse of flat arable land in the center of the nation, in the region west of the Great Lakes and east of the Rocky Mountains.
Summary. Throughout history, food needs bonded humans to nature. The transition to agriculture constituted slow, but revolutionary ecological transformations. After 1500 ce, agricultural goods, as well as pests that undermined them, dominated the exchange of species between four continents.
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May 23, 2012 · Because of President Lincoln’s vision for the country and the potential he saw in America’s farmers, on May 15, 1862, 150 years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was born. At that time, about half of all Americans lived on farms, compared with about 2 percent today.
