Institutional and Ideological Foundations of US Agriculture – Part I Eco-Ag Program October 14, 2003 Chad Kruger

Institutional and Ideological Foundations of US Agriculture –

Part I

Eco-Ag Program

October 14, 2003

Chad Kruger

I. Introduction Important things to think about as we discuss the ideological and institutional

foundations of US agriculture

• Institutions are the “embodiment” of a society’s values, ideas and decisions.

• Ideas compete with each other in any given time and place as well as over the course of time in a place.

• Key events in history bring focus to issues and shape the institutional structures that govern an issue for generations to come.

• Without dramatic events, institutions are very difficult to change.

I. Introduction There are several ideological concepts that have contributed to the

development and historical processes of agriculture in the US.

• Agrarianism vs. Federalism• Manifest Destiny• Urban – rural values and

conflict• Independence and Dependence

I. Introduction

A. Agrarianism vs. Federalism

Agrarianism vs. Federalism

Jeffersonian Agrarianism is based on the idea that the small, family-centered farm creates an institutional unit that provides for economically equitable and productive, socially and personally moral and civic-minded people – people who make good democratic citizens.

While Madison and Hamilton didn’t agree with Jefferson’s theory of Agrarian based democracy, they agreed to the concept that a productive agricultural sector was necessary to fuel the industrial and commercial development of the US.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny

• “Go west young man” – appealing to the sense of adventure, opportunity to “own” land, etc.

• The “Indian” Question – John Locke’s theory of labor and land -- tilling and producing was the way to stake a claim to land. Europeans did not believe Native Americans had a claim to the land.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural

Urban-Rural Values / Conflict

• Farmer movements and parties - attempting to bolster rural representation and interests in government

• “Revolutionary” elements – what has directed the social organizing elements of rural people?

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural

D. Independence / Dependence

Independence and Dependence

• Agricultural and rural people have long championed themselves as independent, rugged individualists – yet have long been wrapped up in government affairs.

• How and why is this the case?

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural


II. Political Committment

Political Commitment to Agricultural Development

• Whether it is because of “Jeffersonian Agrarianism” or because agricultural development is a vehicle for commercial/industrial development – the Federal Government has always played a key role in agricultural development and expansion.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural


II. Political Commitment

A. Institutional Establishment

Institutional Establishment

• USDA formed – 1862 – Formerly part of Patent Office

• Morrill Land Grant College Act – 1862, 1890, 1994

– “to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanical arts as well as classical studies so that members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education”

– Morrill Acts provide federal land grants to each state (1890 act ceded additional lands for historically and predominantly African American colleges; 1994 act for Native American colleges).

– Nelson Amendment added $50,000 per state annually

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural





• Hatch Act 1887 – – Provides federal “formula” dollars to each

state for agricultural experiment station based on the number of “small” farmers in the state.

• Smith-Lever Act of 1914 – – Establishes federal support for a

Cooperative Extension Service for each Land Grant.

• Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 – (High School Vocational Ag)

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural





• Pacific Railroad Act – 1862– land grant to private company to

build part of a Transcontinental Railroad

• Homestead Act – 1862 – – 160 parcel of land to any citizen

who would make a basic improvement and live on the land for 5 years

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural





• Clayton Act – 1914 – – Authorized the cooperative model as a

legal entity for farmer-owned businesses

• Federal Farm Loan Act 1916– Provided federal capital for the

establishment of producer cooperatives

• Capper Volstead Act of 1917– Exempted farmer cooperatives and

cooperative initiatives from prosecution under the Sherman Anti-trust laws.

• Packers and Stockyards Act 1921 – – Attempted to eliminate price-fixing by the

meat packing industry – make the market more competitive and fair to ranchers.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural





• Country Life Commission (1907)– Commissioned by Roosevelt to “determine

ways of improving life in rural America”– Key players: Liberty Hyde Bailey (Cornell

Horticulturalist), Kenyon Butterfield (Rural Sociology), Gifford Pinchot (noted Forester and Conservationist), Henry Wallace (father and grandfather of future secretaries of ag)

– Grand scheme to survey rural American and determine problems and things to improve

– Recommendations: increase the conveniences in rural homes, re-energize rural Churches and reform schools, to make agricultural production and marketing more efficient.

– This is the beginning of the “cheap food” rationale.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural




B. The “Indian Question”

The “Indian Question”

Native Americans stood in the way of Euro-American settlement west of the Mississippi.

• Removal– move Tribes west of the Mississippi,

assumed to be a permanent solution.• Reservation and Relocation

– “isolate, concentrate and civilize”• Conversion and Assimilation

– Dawes Allotment Act – 1887, 160 acres• What do you do with a standing army?• Treaties

– clash of cultural understanding of legal agreements

– Poorly administrated by the Euro-American agents

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural





III. Westward Expansion

A. Patterns of Settlement

Westward Expansion – “Manifest Destiny”

• Patterns of settlement– Oregon and California first– Washington and the inland

regions – Great Plains last (why?)

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural







B. Commercial strategies


• Commercial strategies– Fur trade– Gold– Lumber– Farming – subsistence and

market (mineral and timber exploitation created a demand for agricultural products.)

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural








C. PNW Native Americans


• The “Indian Question” in the Pacific Northwest

– Treaty of Medicine Creek 1854 - treaty affecting all Native American tribes in the Puget Sound Region

– Nez Perce War 1877 – Tried to escape to Canada – captured and sent to Oklahoma

– Dawes Allotment Act 1887.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement

Settlement in the Pacific Northwest

• Fur traders/Companies, pioneer loggers and farmers – Hudson’s Bay Company

• Settled the Willamette Valley first – 5000 settlers by 1845 – gave the US a better “claim” to the Oregon Country than England

• 1846, US and England sign treaty – 49th Parallel (“54-40 or Fight”)

• California was settled primarily by gold interests, Oregon was settled primarily by farming interests.

• Gold rush in California established a market for lumber from Washington

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


• Those traveling to Oregon tended to travel as families, with larger family groups or church associations

• Subsistence and diversified agriculture first, market second

• Oregon settlement was more community oriented – more “republican”

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


• Oregon Trail – – Marcus and Narcissa Whitman

(Walla Walla) Mission – 1836– First major year – 1000 people –

“The Great Migration” 1843.– Willamette Valley of Oregon the

primary destination– 1869 Transcontinental Railroad

completed – Railroad land grant, 1 square mile checkerboard pattern – sold to farmers

• Grand Coulee Dam

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement

IV. Farmer Movements

Farmer Movements

The Depression of 1873 spurred a number of farmer organizations and

movements.

The organizing principle is similar to the organizing principle of the Shays’

Rebellion – the belief that industrial and commercial interests were

shaping federal economic policy in ways detrimental to agricultural

communities.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange

Farmer Movements

• The Grange– Social center for rural communities, founded by Oliver

Hudson Kelley– Vision shifted during the Depression of 1873 to include

addressing the problems associated with market agriculture

– Ultimately became a lobby organization – at local, state and national levels

– Promoted inflationary policies and printing currency as the solution to agricultural debt – Shay’s Rebellion?

– Promoted federal regulation of railroads– Lost its popular support in the late 1870’s due to

poor management and the return of prosperous economic times

– Today, still active in 37 states with about 300,000 members – still a lobbying organization, but also has activities such as selling insurance

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange

B. Farmers’ Alliances

Farmer Movements

• Farmers’ Alliances – Northern Alliance

• mostly a lobby/political organization• public ownership of railroads, tax

reform, and printing money

– Southern Alliance • acted more as a fraternity in addition to

its political interests – a social organization

– Colored Alliance – • established because African Americans

had been banned from the Southern Alliance

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange


C. Populist Party

Farmer Movements

• The Populist Party– The farmer movements of the 1870’s/early 80’s

culminated in the forming of a Political Party called the Populist (or People’s) Party to run a third candidate in the election of 1882.

– The platform called for many of the same things as other farmer org’s – printed money, tax reform, etc. – attempted to replace the Democratic Party by embracing agricultural interests in the South and West and Industrial workers in the Northeast

– Attempted to run a candidate in 1886, but the Democratic Party appointed the extremely popular candidate William Jennings Bryan, which broke the Populist Party’s vote.

– The Populist Party was never successful in creating a rural-urban collaboration.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange


C. Populist Party

D. The Farmer’s Union

Farmer Movements

• The Farmer’s Union– Organization started in 1902 – an agrarian

organization similar in principle with the Grange and the Populist Party platform

– “. . . to sustain and strengthen family farm and ranch agriculture. The key to this goal has been Farmers Union's grassroots structure in which policy positions are initiated locally. The policy process includes the presentation of resolutions by individuals or a group of Farmers Union members, followed by possible adoption of the resolutions at the local, state and national levels.”

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange


C. Populist Party


E. Farm Bureau

Farmer Movements

• The American Farm Bureau Federation– Clearly the most effective farmer’s movement

organization.

– The success is based, in part, on the cooperation between the farm bureau and federal, state, and county governments.

– Backed legislation in the 20’s to develop a commodity support payment system

– Became intricately related to county level Cooperative Extension – to the point of making most county level agricultural decisions

– Became the dominant farmer organization – in spite of questionable representation of the broad interests of farmers.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange


C. Populist Party


E. Farm Bureau

F. Others

Farmer Movements

• Farmer-Labor Party – 1920 – Minnesota – another attempt to organize an

agricultural political party

• Farm Bloc – 1921 – – an informal association of senators in the

Great Plains, Midwest, and South – voting for agricultural interests --- still exists today

• Farmer’s Holiday Association – 1931

– Iowa promoted the idea of farmer’s taking a one-day “holiday” where they don’t sell to improve prices.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


A. The Grange


C. Populist Party


E. Farm Bureau

F. Others

Farmer Movements

Why do farmer’s movements and protests have such limited

effect today?

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


V. WWI / Depression

A. Food Will Win the War

“Food Will Win the War”

• “Desert of Wheat” – Zane Grey

• “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays”

• US Food Administration, Food Production Act, Food Control Act

– all legislation and bureaucracy intended to help the war effort

• Boon to farmers, with high prices and ready markets for products

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


V. WWI / Depression


B. Out on the County Road

“Out on the County Road”

• WWI was followed by an agricultural depression in mid-1920–

– not felt by the whole of society (Roaring 20’s).

– Commodity prices fell and did not recover in the 20’s

• During WWI farmers had purchase land and machinery on mortgages to take advantage of the high prices.

• Numerous foreclosures on mortgages for farms –

– ½ million farmers lost farms in the 1920’s – a period of prosperity in the country.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


V. WWI / Depression



“Out on the County Road”

• Edd Kruger Story– Family saved and invested more than

$87,000 between 1910 and 1920. Invested in gold futures like everyone else in the county.

– Futures went bad, many of the farmers in Lincoln County declared bankruptcy to keep their farms.

– Edd Kruger would not declare bankruptcy, but leased 2 farms throughout the 1920’s to pay back his debts.

– The banker that he had paid back helped him get a new farm shortly after the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

I. Introduction


B. Manifest Destiny

C. Urban – rural









D. PNW Settlement


V. WWI / Depression



C. Changing Perspectives

Changing Perspectives

• Desperate farmers take desperate measures

– strikes, foreclosure moratoriums, potential violence

– question of revolutionary force?? – Consider the world context – The Bolshevik

Revolution had just happened in Russia, and Heavy communist sentiment and activity was happening throughout the US.

• Farming communities who had prided themselves on independence (though not totally true) turned to the government for assistance in the late 20’s, early 30’s.

Study Questions• Jefferson’s Agrarianism idealizes farmers and rural people for

their civic virtue. How realistic is it to think that an agrarian democracy could work today?

• Most of us now realize that the settlement of the US and the development of agriculture came at the atrocious treatment of Native Americans. How can we right the wrongs of the past while not inflicting new wrongs on the current land holders?

• If there were a Country Life Commission for the 21st Century, what do you think should be the objectives and recommendations of the CLC?

• Why do farmer’s movements and protests have such limited effect today?

Documents

Institutional and Ideological Foundations of US Agriculture – Part I Eco-Ag Program October 14, 2003 Chad Kruger