Natural Selections Farms Spinach Field with Harvest Rows

3. Natural Selections Farms Spinach Field with Harvest Rows

5. Evolution of US Land Grant Institutions System • Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 • Hatch Act of 1867 • Second Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890 • Smith-Lever Act of 1914

6. Morrill Land Grant of 1862 • . . . the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agricultural and mechanical arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life

7. Hatch Act of 1867 Authorized the federal funding for an agricultural experimental station in connection with each land grant institution.

8. Second Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890 Agreed to supplement by direct appropriation the income from the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. To receive the money a state had to show that race or color was not an admission criterion to the state’s land grant institution, or else designate a separate land grant institution for people of color.

9. Smith-Lever Act of 1914 • Established the system of cooperative extension services to bring people the benefits of current developments in the field of agriculture, home economics, and related topics. Came to encompass a program of on-campus instruction, research, and off-campus extension work.

10. WHEAT!

11. Wheat Prehistory, History • 10000+BP—mutation or hybridization on emmer in Fertile Crescent • 8000BP—to make flat cakes in Switzerland • 4-5000BP—Egyptians make leavened bread • 2200BP—Romans form first baker’s guilds • 1200AD—England adopted laws to regulate prices and limit profits of bread

12. Forms of Wheat • Emmer—low yielding. No hull due to mutation. Staple cereal of prehistorical Middle East and key reason why early agriculture worked. • Einkorn—more resistant to cold, drought. Major reason why Bronze Age Europeans had worn teeth. • Modern wheat varieties are the result of mutations of the above two.

13. Wheat Characteristics • Largest single food crop on earth • Most wheat made directly into human food • Easily stored and transported if kept dry • Not a very high yielding (or profitable) crop • Thus not commonly grown in prime agricultural areas • And thus may expand into areas unsuitable for crop agriculture during periods of high demand—USSR “Virgin and Idle Lands Scheme”, US “Dust Bowl” • Two types for end use—”hard” and “soft”

14. Global Wheat Economy • Many major producers consume nearly all they produce—India and China, for example • Major exporters—less populated semi-arid grassland/prairie areas • Pampas of Argentina, Uruguay • Murray-Darling Valley of SE Australia • Ukraine steppes • US and Canada plains and prairies

15. US Wheat Yield, 1920-2000

18. Mid-American Grasslands

20. US Wheat Classes • Durum—very hard, for semolina flour • Hard Red Spring— hard, high protein, used in bread and hard baked goods • Hard Red Winter— hard, high protein, used in bread and hard baked goods • Soft Red Winter— used in many products • Soft White— low gluten content, used to make pasteries • Albino— newly used albino version of red wheat used to make a whole wheat white bread—soft and mushy, but with 3 times the fiber

21. Hard Red Winter Wheat Region

22. Hard Red Spring Wheat Region

23. Durum, Soft Red Winter Wheat Regions

24. White Wheat Region

26. Role (and advantage) of Chicago (and, later, others as well) • Rail Center—trunk lines and feeder systems • Mechanical Farming Innovations—John Deere’s plow and McCormick’s reaper • Elevators • Chicago Board of Trade

27. US Wheat Production by State, 1859-1994

34. Bagged, Stacked Wheat

39. US Wheat Flour Manufacture by State, 1870-1987

40. US Railroads, 1830. 1840, 1850

41. US Railroads, 1860

42. US Railroads, 1880