The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis

516 Pages·1993·29.754 MB·English

by  Willard W. Cochrane

The Development of American
Agriculture: A Historical Analysis
The University of Minnesota Press
gratefully acknowledges assistance provided
for the publication of this volume
by the John K. and Elsie Lampert Fesler Fund.
The
Development
of American
Agriculture
A Historical Analysis
Second Edition
Willard W. Cochrane
M
IN
NE
SO
TA
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis London
Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
Excerpts from The Trail of Tears by Gloria Jahoda. Copyright 1975 by Gloria Jahoda.
Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, Inc.; the quotation on pp.
117-18 from Murray R. Benedict, Farm Policies of the United States, 1790-1950: A Study
of Their Origins and Development, © 1953 by the Twentieth Century Fund, Inc., New
York; and the passages on pp. 180-81 and p. 182 from Vernon Carstensen, ed., The
Public Lands: Studies in the History of the Public Domain, © 1968 by the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, are reprinted with the permission of the publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re-
trieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
2037 University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis, MN 55455-3092
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cochrane, Willard Wesley, 1914-
The development of American agriculture : a historical analysis /
Willard W. Cochrane. -2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8166-2282-5 (he : acid-free). — ISBN 0-8166-2283-3 (pb : acid-free)
1. Agriculture — United States — History. I. Title.
S441.C62 1993
338.1'0973 — dc20 92-35698
CIP
The University of Minnesota is an
equal opportunity educator and employer.
To
Bushrod W. Allin
John M. Brewster
Winn F. Finner
James G. Maddox
Robert H. Masucci
Patrick E. O'Donnell
H. L. Stewart
My departed friends and colleagues who
helped me think systematically, yet
realistically, about the development of
American agriculture.
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition ix
Preface to the First Edition xi
I. Introduction
1. Introduction and Overview 3
II. Agricultural Development: A Chronological History
2. The Colonial Period: 1607-1775 13
3. Breaking Out of the Atlantic Seaboard: 1775-1820 37
4. From Pioneering to Commercialization: 1820-1860 57
5. The Last Frontier: 1860-1897 78
6. Prosperity and Depression: 1897-1933 99
7. The Technological Revolution: 1933-1970 122
8. U.S. Agriculture in a World Market: 1970-1990 150
III. The Forces of Development and Structural Change
9. Abundant Land 173
10. Farm Mechanization and Technological Advance 189
11. Building Physical Infrastructure: Transport and
Other Elements 209
12. Building Social Infrastructure: Education and Research 235
13. International Inputs 258
14. Environmental Policy 278
viii CONTENTS
15. The Role of Government 307
16. The Forces in Review 335
17. Changes in Structure, Organization, and Productivity 352
18. The Watersheds of Development 371
IV. A Conceptual Model of Agricultural Development: 1950-1990
19. The Demand and Supply Components 393
20. Governmental Intervention, Cannibalism,
and the Treadmill 417
21. Using the Model to Understand the 1970s and 1980s 437
V. Summation
22. Some Concluding Thoughts 457
Notes 473
Index 487
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
]ust as the first edition was written in a relatively short time, the work
of revising, rewriting, and expanding it to produce this second edi-
tion was also accomplished in a short time. But in both cases the final
book grew out of years and years of research and study by the author.
It also grew out of the research efforts and products of many people.
All of this study, information, and research results are pulled together
in this historical analysis, The Development of American Agriculture.
The first objective in preparing this new edition was to bring the
data and the historical analysis up to date. But some new material has
been added. Environmental policy, as a force of development, is dis-
cussed in a new chapter. A new thesis is presented in connection with
the discussion of the watersheds of development. And the conceptual
model is used to analyze the volatile economic developments of the
1970s and 1980s. This second edition is thus not a brand-new book, but
it does contain some new information and ideas, which it is hoped are
effectively integrated into the previous historical analysis.
Numerous people and institutions contributed to the production of
the second edition of The Development of American Agriculture. Three
people in particular encouraged me to undertake the task of revision:
W. Burt Sundquist of the Department of Agricultural and Applied
Economics at the University of Minnesota; James T. Bonnen of the
Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University;
ix