History of Agriculture

When migrants first came to America, they were astonished by the amount of resources they had available to them. The Native Americans had a certain respect and understanding of the land; this understanding was shared with the newcomers- but the respect did not translate with it. Instead, they were engrossed by the quantity of food they could consume. America became the land of abundance and competition. Fast forward to the Industrial Revolution, during which freight shipping and refrigeration became common practice and there was no longer needed to have the food that was in season or regional - we could have anything we wanted at any point in the year. With these developments, genetic modification became a large research interest to make foods easier to produce in bulk and to increase the shelf life of these crops (Carolyn, Effland, Conklin. 7).

Farming became a large international business - to compete you have to be able to produce large amounts of food very quickly. Large farms and factory farms stopped participating in traditional practices that were good for the soil - and therefore the crops - because consumers are not focusing on quality but rather on efficiency and cost. The agriculture business has spent the past century becoming cheap and efficient. A study by the USDA states that “since 1900, the number of farms has fallen by 63 percent, but the average farm size has risen by 67%”(Carolyn, Effland, Conklin. 2). Along with this increase in size, the farms have become largely monocultural and specialized.

There is currently a new push for more environmentally friendly and health conscious agriculture practices from the public because of a greater awareness of the implications of our agricultural practices, but the agricultural policy and economic policy makes it difficult for sustainable farms to be profitable in today’s economy.

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