The Context: A brief timeline of American Agriculture

This Timeline provides a fascinating overview of how American agriculture has changed and developed over the last 300 years, and how the Church has responded.  There are a lot of dates presented here, but if you are visiting the site for the first time, I recommend looking at this page briefly, and not getting too caught up in all the individual dates.  Be sure to check out the heart of this site at "Dream to Reality."

1700s

• 90% of the American workforce is farmers.
• Small family farms predominate, except for plantations in southern coastal areas.  Farm families manufacture many necessities.
• Animals and humans provide farms' only source of power.  Crops are sown by hand, cultivated by hoe, harvested by hand with sickles, threshed with hand flails.
• Farmers near water transportation grow some cash crops for trade; farmers inland emphasize subsistence farming.
• Tobacco is the first cash crop for export, followed by rice, indigo, grain, and meat products.  Cotton becomes a cash crop in the South toward the end of the century.
• Charles Newbold patents first cast-iron plow in 1797

1800 to 1860

• Thomas Moore of Maryland invents the icebox refrigerator in 1801.  Jethro Wood patents iron plow with interchangeable parts in 1819, and U.S. food canning industry established.  
• Cotton becomes the most important cash crop in the Old South by 1830.
• By 1850, the US has 1,449,000 farms, and the workforce is 64% farmers.  Average farm size is 203 acres.
• The roots of the American Agricultural Revolution begins to take shape.  Factory-made agricultural machinery increases farmers' need for cash and encourages commercial farming.  First practical grain drill patented in 1841.  First grain elevator, Buffalo, NY in 1842.  Sir John Lawes founds commercial fertilizer industry in 1843.  First practical mowing machine patented in 1844.  Irrigation begun in Utah in 1847.  Mixed chemical fertilizers sold commercially by 1849.  Two-horse straddle-row cultivator patented in 1856.  Mason jars, used for home canning, invented in 1858.  75-90 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 ½ acres) of corn with walking plow, harrow, and hand planting in 1850.
• Growth in manufacturing brings many labor-saving devices to the farm home between 1840 and 1860.
• Pius the VII in 1802 writes:  “The farmer's calling is a sacred calling ... because he collaborates with God in continuing the work of his creation."  and also: "As it is only from agriculture that what is most necessary for man's nourishment can be obtained ... and as it is, therefore, the first and most important of all the arts, so also does it constitute the primary and true riches of states."

1860 to 1900

• Change from hand power to horses characterizes the first American agricultural revolution.  Steam tractors are tried out in 1868.  Spring-tooth harrow for seedbed preparation appears in 1869.  Silos and deep-well drilling come into use by 1870.  Refrigerator cars introduced in 1870, increasing national markets for fruits and vegetables.
• Increased specialization in farm production by 1870.  Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio chief wheat States.
• Refrigerator cars introduced in 1870, increasing national markets for fruits and vegetables.
• By 1890, US has 4,565,000 farms, average farm size is 136 acres and farmers are 43% of the labor force.
• Toward the end of the century, Agriculture becomes increasingly mechanized and commercialized.  William Deering puts 3,000 twine binders on the market in 1880.  Hybridized corn produced in 1881.  Horse-drawn combine used in Pacific coast wheat areas.  The first long haul shipment of a refrigerated freight car was made from California to New York in 1888.  The first gasoline tractor was built by John Froelich in 1892.  35-40 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 1/2 acres) of corn with 2-bottom gang plow, disk and peg-tooth harrow, and 2-row planter compared to 75 hours only 30-40 years earlier.
• Average annual consumption of commercial fertilizer at turn of the century; 1,845,900 tons
• Pope Leo XIII writes Rerum Novarum in 1891.  Written against the backdrop of the industrial revolution and it's social changes, RN emphasizes the need for justice in the economy, the importance of private property, and at the same time the responsibility to use that property for the common good.  This document is considered the birth of modern Catholic social thought, and several future popes published other social documents on various anniversaries of RN.  Leo does not discuss agriculture explicitly, but states that the land is the source of sustenance for everyone: "There is not one who does not sustain life from what the land produces."

1900

• Total population: 75,994,266; farm population: 29,414,000 (est.); farmers 38% of labor force; Number of farms: 5,740,000; average acres: 147
• Average annual consumption of commercial fertilizer 3,738,300 tons
• The first business devoted exclusively to making tractors is established

1910

• Farmers 31% of labor force; Number of farms: 6,366,000; average acres: 138
• Commercial fertilizer use: 6,116,700 tons/year
• Big open-geared gas tractors introduced in areas of extensive farming.  Small prairie-type combine with auxiliary engine introduced.  Grain production reaches into the most arid sections of the Great Plains, made possible by new machinery developments.

1920

• Farmers 27% of labor force; Number of farms: 6,454,000; average acres: 148
• Commercial fertilizer use: 6,845,800 tons/year
• Agricultural surpluses become the chief agricultural issue, prices collapse, leads to agricultural depression of the 1920s.
• Farm production gradually grows from expanded use of mechanized power.  Cotton-stripper developed for High Plains; successful light tractors developed.

1930

• Farmers 21% of labor force; Number of farms: 6,295,000; average acres: 157;
• Commercial fertilizer use: 6,599,913 tons/year
• All-purpose, rubber-tired tractor with complementary machinery popularized
• 15-20 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 1/2 acres) of corn with 2-bottom gang plow, 7-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow, 2-row planters, cultivators, and pickers.
• One farmer supplies, on average, 9.8 in the United States and abroad.
• 13% of farms have electricity.
• Pope Pius XI writes Quadragessimo Anno on the 40th anniversary of Rerum Novarum.  He mentions the social need for all workers to be able to support their families from their work.  Special mention is made of family farms, where multiple family members are empowered to contribute to the family's support:  "That the rest of the family should also contribute to the common support, according to the capacity of each, is certainly right, as can be observed especially in the families of farmers..."
• As the number of farmers declines, the Quebec Bishops write in 1937: "We believe that the farmer must be helped to realize the dignity of his condition. Respect for agriculture by all classes of society and their concern for the betterment of the farmer's lot should be developed and spread throughout the nation."
  
  

1940​

• Farmers 18% of labor force; Number of farms: 6,102,000; average acres: 175
• Commercial fertilizer use: 13,590,466 tons/year
• Frozen foods popularized
• Change from horses to tractors and increasing technological practices characterize the second American agricultural revolution; productivity per acre begins sharp rise.  
• 10-14 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 acres) of corn with tractor, 3-bottom plow, 10-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow, 4-row planters and cultivators, and 2-row picker
• One farmer supplies 10.7 persons (est.)
• Expansion of vertical integration, especially in the broiler industry
• 58% of all farms have cars; 25% have phones; 33% have electricity
• Amidst continued decline in rural population, Pope Pius XII write in 1946: "The fact that the working of a farm has an eminently family character makes it of outstanding importance for the social and economic prosperity of the whole people."  "The moral recovery of the whole people depends on the steadfast faith and social integrity of the tillers of the soil."
  
  

1950

• Farmers 12.2% of labor force; Number of farms: 5,388,000; average acres: 216
• Commercial fertilizer use: 22,340,666 tons/year
• One farmer supplies 15.5 persons (est.)
• Number of tractors on farms exceeds the number horses and mules for the first time.  Anhydrous ammonia increasingly used as cheap source of nitrogen, boosting yields.  Mechanical tomato harvester developed.
• 70.9% of all farms have cars; 49% have phones; 93% have electricity

1960

• Farmers 8.3% of labor force; Number of farms: 3,711,000; average acres: 303
• Commercial fertilizer use: 32,373,713 tons/year
• One farmer supplies 25.8 persons (est.)
• 5 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 12- foot plow, 14-foot drill, 14-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks.
• Soybean acreage expands as an alternative to other crops.  96% of corn acreage planted with hybrid seed.
• 83% of all farms have phones; 98.4% have electricity
• Pope John XXIII writes Mater et Magistra in 1961 on the 70th anniversary of Rerum Novarum.  He writes:  "In the work on the farm the human personality finds every incentive for self-expression, self-development and spiritual growth. It is a work, therefore, which should be thought of as a vocation, a God-given mission, an answer to God's call to actuate His providential, saving plan in history."  As family farms continue their steady decline, he writes: "We are bound above all to consider as an ideal the kind of farm which is owned and managed by the family. Every effort must be made in the prevailing circumstances to give effective encouragement to farming enterprises of this nature."

1970

• Farmers 4.6% of labor force; Number of farms: 2.780, 000; average acres: 390
• Commercial fertilizer use: 43,643,700 tons/year
• One farmer supplies 47.7 persons (est.)
• 3-1/3 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (1 1/8 acres) of corn with tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot herbicide applicator, 12-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks.
• 90% of all farms have phones; 98.6% have electricity

1980

• Farmers 3.4% of labor force; Number of farms: 2,439,510; average acres: 426
• Commercial fertilizer use: 47,411,166 tons/year
• One farmer supplies 75.7 persons (est.)
• 2-3/4 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (1 1/8 acres) of corn with tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot herbicide applicator, 12-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks.
• The first American patent for a genetically engineered organism, a bacterium used to clean up oil spills, is granted.  
• Pope John Paul II writes Laborem Exercens on the 90th anniversary of Rerum Novarum.  In light of the fact that farmers account for only 3.4% of the workforce (down from 64% 130 years earlier), he writes: "It is necessary to proclaim and promote the dignity of work, of all work but especially of agricultural work..."  Also, "Agriculture constitutes through human work a primary field of economic activity and an indispensable factor of production.”  Two years earlier, he wrote: "There is also a growing awareness of the decisive function of agriculture both in preserving the environment and as a valuable source of energy."  In 1989 he writes about the "excessive use of chemicals in agriculture."  By this point, commercial fertilizer use has reached almost 50 million tons / year.
  
  

1990 to present

• Farmers 2.6% of labor force; Number of farms: 2,143,150; average acres: 461
• Concentration grows in farm inputs industry and among processors and shippers; more farms turn to production and marketing contracts, increasing vertical coordination
• One farmer supplies 100 persons (est.)
• Information technology and precision techniques increasingly used in agriculture
• Farmers begin using satellite technology to track and plan their farming practices.
• The first weed and insect—resistant biotech crops-soybeans and cotton—are available commercially in  1997.
• Biotechnology brings important new developments in dairy, corn, and other commodities; genetically engineered crops and livestock appear
• Livestock waste becomes a major issue
• Farm families make up less than 10 percent of rural population
• Starting in the 1990s, various Church voices of authority begin to mention agriculture and the environment with increasing frequency, making them key areas of concern for our present day.  "Unfortunately, it is now clear that the application of these discoveries in the fields of industry and agriculture have produced harmful long-term effects" (John Paul II, 1990)  "Farmers should expand the use of environmentally sustainable methods so that farmland in the United States can provide food for generations to come." (US Bishops 2003)  "The order of creation demands that priority be given to those human activities that do not cause irreversible damage to nature. (Pope Benedict XVI, 2006)  He also praises activities which make the best use of resources, "while guaranteeing their sustainability over the long term as well." (2009)  "Integral human development is closely linked to the obligations which flow from man’s relationship with the natural environment. … seeing creation as God’s gift to humanity helps us understand our vocation and worth as human beings." (Benedict, 2010)  "It is imperative to promote an economy which favors productive diversity and business creativity. For example, there is a great variety of small-scale food production systems which feed the greater part of the world’s peoples, using a modest amount of land and producing less waste, be it in small agricultural parcels, in orchards and gardens, hunting and wild harvesting or local fishing. Economies of scale, especially in the agricultural sector, end up forcing smallholders to sell their land or to abandon their traditional crops." (Pope Francis, 2015)
• In November 2016, the International Catholic Rural Association, Catholic Rural Life, and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace collaborated to create for the first time a document written specifically to Catholic Farmers and Agricultural Leaders about their God-Given vocation to till and keep the earth.  "Clearly, the dominant modern approach to agriculture is in need of an ethical foundation, one that prioritizes the dignity of the human person and the common good and connects farming and food to principles beyond economic metrics. This foundation can be found in the Christian tradition. This tradition teaches us that producing and distributing food is not a transaction devoid of moral content and ultimate significance. Instead, agriculture should be thought of as a vocation, a form of life through which God can be known, served, and glorified. Inspired by knowing that the Father freely created the earth for man’s well-being, we have a duty to “cultivate and to keep” this gift. Farmers uniquely cooperate with God’s plan by feeding his children and acting as stewards of his creation. This vocational understanding of agriculture, that God calls us to be stewards of his earth and each other, must be explored and expanded, thereby enabling leaders in food production and distribution “to see,” “to judge” and “to act” in accordance with a faith-based perspective."
• August 2017.  Young Catholic Farmers . com is born!  Let's roll up our sleeves, jump right in, and work for the kingdom!  In particular, the generation of men and women newly embarking on their adult lives and careers in the present moment have a uniquely special opportunity to answer this increasingly urgent call in our modern world!  As fellow Christian farmer and author Joel Salatin writes: "There’s never been a better time to go into farming!"  and "If life is sacred at all, then we should be farming in such a way as to honor the distinctiveness, the created uniqueness, of the plants and animals under our care."