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To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (22798)	8/17/2002 11:58:10 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Joan - my guess (tell me if I am right) is that in the Dakotas larger farms were the norm, anyway. Down in the Deep South, where I am from, the migration of former sharecroppers to Northern cities began before WWII. The Mississippi flood of 1927 wiped out a lot of farmers, even more sharecroppers, but so did the Great Deflation in farm prices that began in 1921. Bad times on the farm started in 1921, and seemingly have never ended. Bad times here in Virginia due to the drought. Very warm dry winter, freakish cold spring, then hot dry summer. Lots of apples and grapes killed by a late frost. 80% of the corn and soybean crops wiped out by the drought. Oh, well, the Virginia wine festival is tomorrow. We'll go and talk to people and see what's what.

To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (22798)	8/18/2002 12:50:28 AM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

OT - Farmers would rotate crops and use crops like alfalfa to generate nitrogen in the soil. The origins of that alfalfa are an interesting story... The Significance of the Grimm Farm hennepinparks.org In 1859, Wendelin Grimm and his wife Julianna, German immigrant farmers, purchased acreage in northern Carver County and proceeded to clear the Big Woods and farm the land utilizing the farming practices of their native land. One of these practices was that of seed-saving. A small wooden box that Grimm brought with him contained seed of what was then called "everlasting clover." For the next 15 years he religiously planted and collected seed from the plants that survived the Minnesota winters. The result of this selection process was the first winter-hardy alfalfa in North America. For the first half of this century, Grimm Alfalfa was well known to anyone who had a connection with agriculture. Although at least five other alfalfa introductions were attempted in Canada and the United States, this is the only one that resulted in a winter-hardy strain. It is the source of all modern varieties of alfalfa now grown on more than 25 million acres in the United States and valued at $10 billion dollars annually. Wendelin Grimm's first alfalfa fields, where it all started, can justifiably be called the "birthplace of the Dairy Belt." Retired University of Minnesota agronomy professor, Lawrence Elling has stated that Grimm Alfalfa was the single most important agricultural crop development in North America until the development of hybrid corn.

To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (22798)	8/18/2002 10:05:53 AM
From: Moominoid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

I've done some study of the data on US agricultural productivity. The rise in productivity (total factor productivity) since 1948 has been pretty continuous. Fertiliser use only doubled from 1948 to 1993. What really increased dramatically was pesticide use. An almost 20-fold increase. Labor use fell to a quarter of its 1948 level. Own labor fell by more than hired labor. Total capital less than doubled. All this is from USDA productivity data. You might find different patterns in different parts of the US. I imagine that innovations would be first adopted in areas like California with intensive agriculture or Illinois and Iowa at the heart of the corn belt and maybe come later to the more peripheral regions like Minnesota (that's where you are from?). The maximum land in agriculture was probably around 1910. Since then urbanisation and forest regrowth has taken a lot of land out of production. In the mid-19th century 80% of the land in Massachusetts was in agriculture (crops and pasture). Today only 5% is. Like CB I've just studied the data which could in some respects be misleading and as I said local experiences will vary a lot. David