BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE 1776-1990

• 16th-18th Centuries 16th century- Spanish cattle introduced into the Southwest
• 17th and 18th centuries- All forms of domestic livestock, except turkeys, were imported at some time
• 17th and 18th centuries- Crops borrowed from Indians included maize, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds, squashes, watermelons, beans, grapes, berries, pecans, black walnuts, peanuts, maple sugar, tobacco, and cotton; white potatoes indigenous to South America
• 17th and 18th centuries- New U.S. crops from Europe included clover, alfalfa, timothy, small grains, and fruits and vegetables
• 17th and 18th centuries- African slaves introduced grain and sweet sorghum, melons, okra, and peanuts
• 18th centuries- Tobacco was the chief cash crop of the South

• 1793- First Merino sheep imported
• 1795-1815- The sheep industry in New England was greatly emphasized
• 1805-15- Cotton began to replace tobacco as the chief southern cash crop
• 1810-15- Demand for Merino sheep sweeps the country
• 1815-25- Competition with western farm areas began to force New England farmers out of wheat and meat production and into dairying, trucking, and, later, tobacco production
• 1815-30- Cotton became the most important cash crop in the Old South
• 1819- Secretary of Treasury instructed consuls to collect seeds, plants, and agricultural inventions
• 1820's- Poland-China and Duroc-Jersey swine were being developed, and Berkshire swine were imported
• 1821- Edmund Ruffin's first Essay on Calcareous Manures
• 1836-62- Patent Office collected agricultural information and distributed seeds
• 1830's-1850's- Improved transportation to the West forced eastern staple growers into more varied production for nearby urban centers
• 1840- Justus Liebig's Organic Chemistry appeared
• 1840-1850- New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were the chief wheat States
• 1840-60- Hereford, Ayrshire, Galloway, Jersey, and Holstein cattle were imported and bred
• 1846- First herdbook for Shorthorn cattle
• 1849- First poultry exhibition in the United States
• 1850's- Commercial corn and wheat belts began to develop; wheat occupied the newer and cheaper land west of the corn areas, and was constantly being forced westward by rising land values and the encroachment of the corn areas
• 1850's- Alfalfa grown on the west coast
• 1858- Grimm alfalfa introduced
• 1860's- The Cotton Belt began to move westward
• 1860's- The corn Belt began stabilizing in its present area
• 1860- Wisconsin and Illinois were the chief wheat States
• 1866-86- The days of the cattlemen on the Great Plains
• 1870's- Increased specialization in farm production
• 1870- Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio were the chief wheat States
• 1870- Foot-and-mouth disease first reported in the United States
• 1874-76- Grasshopper plagues serious in the West
• 1877- U.S. Entomological Commission established for work on grasshopper control
• 1880's- The cattle industry moved into the western and southwestern Great Plains
• 1882- Bordeau mixture (fungicide) discovered in France and soon used in the United States
• 1882- Robert Koch discovered tubercule bacillus
• Mid-1880's- Texas was becoming the chief cotton State
• 1886-87- Blizzards, following drought and overgrazing, disastrous to northern Great Plains cattle industry
• 1889- Bureau of Animal Industry discovered carrier of tick fever
• 1890- Minnesota, California, and Illinois were the chief wheat States
• 1890- Babcock butterfat test devised
• 1892- Boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande and began to spread north and east
• 1892- Eradication of pleuropneumonia
• 1899- Improved method of anthrax inoculation
• 1900-10- Turkey red wheat was becoming important as commercial crop
• 1900-20- Extensive experimental work was carried out to breed disease-resistant varieties of plants, to improve plant yield and quality, and to increase the productivity of farm animal strains
• 1903- Hog cholera serum developed
• 1904- First serious stem-rust epidemic affecting wheat
• 1910- North Dakota, Kansas, and Minnesota were the chief wheat States
• 1910- Durum wheats were becoming important commercial crops
• 1910- 35 States and territories required tuberculin testing of all entering cattle
• 1910-20- grain production reached into the most arid sections of the Great Plains
• 1912- Marquis wheat introduced
• 1912- Panama and Colombia sheep developed
• 1917- Kansas red wheat distributed
• 1926- Ceres wheat distributed
• 1926- First hybrid-seed corn company organized
• 1926- Targhee sheep developed
• 1930-35- Use of hybrid-seed corn became common in the Corn Belt
• 1934- Thatcher wheat distributed
• 1934- Landrace hogs imported from Denmark
• 1938- Cooperative organized for artificial insemination of dairy cattle
• 1940's and 1950's- Acreages of crops, such as oats, required for horse and mule feed dropped sharply as farms used more tractors
• 1945-55- Increased use of herbicides and pesticides
• 1947- United States began formal cooperation with Mexico to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease
• 1955- Sterile flies used for screwworm control
• 1960's- Soybean acreage expanded as farmers used soybeans as an alternative to other crops
• 1960- 96% of corn acreage planted with hybrid seed
• 1961- Gaines wheat distributed
• 1966- Fortuna wheat distributed
• 1970- Plant Variety Protection Act
• 1970- Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Norman Borlaug for developing high-yielding wheat varieties
• 1975- Lancota wheat introduced
• 1978- Hog cholera officially declared eradicated
• 1979- Purcell winter wheat introduced
• 1980's- Biotechnology became a viable technique for improving crop and livestock products
• 1983-84- Avian influenza of poultry eradicated before it spread beyond a few Pennsylvania counties
• 1986- Antismoking campaigns and legislation began to affect the tobacco industry

Source: USDA edited and adapted by Leopoldo Costa