Agriculture

1. Agriculture Historical patterns of cultivation in Wisconsin Connection between agriculture and transportation Connection between milk districts and population centers

2. Background • Cultivation of crops for at least the past 2,000 years. • Tribal peoples: grew corn, squash, and beans and harvested maple sugar and wild rice. • European settlers (1840s) – many were full-time farmers • Transformed prairies and forests into agricultural farmland • Raised grain crops to feed people and livestock • 1860s wheat became southern WI primary cash crop • In the 1880s, wheat growing began to move to the more expansive prairies of the Great Plains.

3. Dairy • As wheat declined, dairy agriculture rose dramatically. • Depended on farmer’s ability to store grain for cow feed over the long winter • Silo – 1890s • Dairy cows ate feed crops (corn, oats, and hay) stored in silos to make silage (green grains fermented in an enclosed space). • Wisconsin became the leading state in milk, butter, and cheese production (unchallenged until recently)

4. Dairy continued • Butter became a major homemade product in western WI, but initially its quality was so low that it was often used as “western grease” to lubricate wagon wheels. • Cheese was more difficult to manufacture in the home, and milk often spoiled on long trips over poor roads to the cheese factory. • 1910s, roads began to improve, making it easier to transport milk within WI. • Refrigerated railroad cars made it easier to transport dairy products outside the state. • 1930s (WI recognized as the national dairy center) • Fluid milk production was concentrated closer to the cities that consumed the bottled milk • More financially lucrative than cheese, with a shorter distance to travel to urban markets.

5. Cheese Culture • Diary agriculture reveals much about the origins of WI settlers. • Different breads of dairy cows originate from different countries • Holsteins from the Netherlands, Brown Swiss from Switzerland, and Jerseys from the British Isles. • Different types of cheese also came from different places • Swiss cheese, English cheddar cheese, and Colby cheese (invented in the Wisconsin village of Colby). • Fond du Lac County had the nation’s first cheese factory in 1864.

6. “America’s Dairyland” • Wisconsin’s position is threatened by the rise of large-scale dairy farm operations, particularly in California. • 1996 – CA overtook WI in fluid milk production • But our state remains the leader in cheese production.

7. Cash Crops • Farmers planted a variety of cash crops as agriculture developed in different eras and areas of Wisconsin. • Many spread elsewhere where they continued to be grown commercially, while some other crops declined. • Historic Wisconsin Crops Timeline • Which 7 crops that were grown commercially but declined? • Hops and barley were produced for the brewing industry but later declined in production.

8. Growing Seasons • Wisconsin has a wide range of growing seasons (number of days in which crops will grow in one year). • WI crops tend to grow better in areas with warmer temperatures and in areas near moisture of the Great Lakes. • Orchard Crops (cherries) – best near the Great Lakes – Door County? • Colored Map – Crops Grown for Market • More cash crops were first grown in southern and eastern WI • Rather than in cooler more forested northern WI or drier western WI

9. Canning Industry • Wisconsin is among the top-ranked states in raising vegetables for canning. • Canneries (factories where produce is canned) process locally grown crops, turning them into familiar foods. • Pickles from cucumbers, sauerkraut from cabbage. • They also process crops from outside the state and are major employers in some rural communities. • Some of Wisconsin’s migrant (seasonally present) farm workers found work in canneries and settled permanently in the state. • Besides processing vegetable crops, canneries are also important to some fruit crops. • WI is one of the leading cranberry-producing states (raised in watery bogs). Colored map