Examples Of My Roots

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

During the First World War, our farmers worked very hard to help to produce wheat for an ever-increasing demand. Many new inventions such as the disk plow and the steam tractor helped with this endeavor. The land was stripped of its root system that held the soil in place. The topsoil was ground down into the very fine sand. “On the Great Plains, extensive plowing while ignoring environmental risks set the stage for the dust bowl of the 1930’s”(Eric Foner published 2017 - 5th edition). The many lessons learned from the dust bowl years would change the farmer’s agricultural world forever.

I have roughly 8 years of experience growing up in the Blacklands, especially around Number 8 Canal, farming with my grandfather, Raymond Bennett. I have been working and learning from him since around the age of 10. By growing corn, peanuts, soybeans, and wheat, I have been gaining the basic knowledge of the crops and spending additional time on my own researching what other farmers have done to grow and yield

The agriculture industry is not only the largest industry within our state, but also within our nation. However, in recent years it has also been one of the most heavily criticized. This has led to a ‘brain drain’ in rural America as more people decide to leave our industry and their family farms.

For years, people have found many ways to develop their farms.Fazrmers have developed them from little feilds that can barley grow to hundreds of acres of fresh and fast growing crops. They have slowly figured out better ways to plant, grow, and harvest their feilds over the centuries.

The world of work in agriculture is in a process of rapid change. While "change" is by no means alien to agriculture, something new has entered the arena which promises and/or threatens to fundamentally alter agricultural practices across the globe. Biotechnology has already begun to be implemented resulting in what may be important shifts in not only agricultural production, but indeed changes in the very makeup of agricultural products themselves. This promises to pose serious challenges and/or opportunities to farmers across the globe. However, this may of course depend where it is particular farmers stand in relation to the power and socio-economic relations surrounding

The three-wheeled tractor was singled out as the one piece of farm equipment with the most influence on farm production. However, farming in the early twentieth century was not yet strictly business, but a cultural aspect of rural life many people felt attached to as part of their identity. In Melissa Walker’s book, Southern Farmers Tell Their Stories she notes the pride people associated with hard work on the farm before World War II were disappearing because of technological advancements in farm machinery.

Recently, not only are agriculture organizations like the FFA and 4-H watching participation and enrollment decline, but so are colleges and universities. Brittany S. Smith and Connie D. Baggett wrote an article concerning the enrollment barriers in agriculture stating that “the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that between 2010 and 2015, there will be 54,400 annual employment openings for individuals with baccalaureate or higher degrees within the agriculture, food, and renewable natural resources sectors, creating a large demand for anticipated graduates with college degrees or related work experiences” (48). As the number of applicants continues to dwindle, the need for qualified individuals will continue to rise

Tractors assist farmers feed by providing time-saving power, comfort, and speed to the farmer. Since the beginning, tractors have greatly helped farmer increase there acreage and feed more people. They have become an indispensable, technologically advanced tool on the farm, and has transformed the world of farming by allowing farmers to farm more ground while spending less time working in the fields. Since the first steam powered tractor was built in the late 1800’s the progression and advancement of tractors has never stopped, and never will stop. The tractor has aided farmers significantly since John Froehlich’s first gas powered tractor in the 1890’s caught many farmers’ eyes (Tractor). By increasing the

Introduction – Choosing an occupation can be based on a number of factors including personal interests, educational attainment, or family tradition. Farming is a profession that has existed for many years in practically every country in the world. It is required to produce commodities that are needed for human consumption such as meats, vegetables, and animal by products like dairy and eggs. The U.S. Census describes a farm as any establishment which produced and sold, or normally would have produced and sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products during the year. The Census states that there are over 2.2 million farms in the United States. In spite of the predominance of family farms, there is strong evidence of a trend toward

The agriculture field is one of the biggest employers, employing over 155 million people in the United States. What do you think about when you hear the word “agriculture?” Many people would say farming, but this is not the most common occupation in this field. Farmers make up a fraction of the agricultural jobs at 900,000, but over 2.1 million people own, rent, and claim farming as a primary source of income. The average farm size has dropped from 460 acres in 1990 to 418 acres in 2007, while the average age of this occupation rose to 57, making this one of the older workforces in the United States.

In order to gain an understanding of the agricultural equipment industry, we have to acknowledge the history in this area. In the 1920’s, most farmers practiced farming with horses pulling plows attached to them, which prepped the land for planting crops. Machines that picked crops had not been invented by the 1920’s, so farmers had to harvest their crops by hand. John Froelich invented of the first internal-combustion traction motor, or tractor and had sold 20 of his tractors by 1914 through partnering with 8 investors from the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company. Eventually, John Deere purchased the first tractor company to ever exist in 1918, and paid $2,350,000 for it. Needless to say, John Deere has seen a large return on their investment. Although manufacturers such as John Deere in the United States had began to lead the way in building and assembling mechanized tractors, this luxury was not widely utilized by farmers around the country because tractors were both very expensive and limited. Eventually, tractors

Shortly after getting involved with local Farmers Guild, which now has 11 chapters, I realized the dire importance to spread the word and message about the future of young farmers. The typical American farmer is over 57, white and male; he often has no succession plan. One of my clients, Larry Peter the Owner of Petaluma Creamery worked in agriculture as a young man picking prunes and raspberries. He washed milk bottles; bottle fed calves, and drove a forklift for ten years while he learned the business. He saved his money, bought run-down houses, fixed them up, and rented them out. In doing research, I found farmers and ranchers earned a median annual income of nearly $61,000 in 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (1) Seven of the 10 best-paying U.S. cities for farmers were in California, ranking at $80,0000-$87,000 annually. According to a recent report commissioned by the USDA, there will be 20,000 fewer university graduates in the fields of agriculture and the environment than will be needed in just the next five years. In order to feed 9 billion people by 2050, we will need a diverse population of agriculture researchers who can think outside the hectare and leverage the experience of nontraditional learners — including veterans, refugees from rural backgrounds, migrant farmworkers and female farm owners. (5)

Local farming plays a large role in the lives of everyone in small, rural communities. But the local farm scene is being taken over by large, factory farming industries. These industries not only do everything they can to control the agriculture sector and wipe out small farms, but also keep mass amounts of animals in small unsanitary spaces. The American consumers foods are being polluted with chemicals, and small farms are struggling to hold on. These industries are sucking the life out of small farming communities, not only effecting the farmers, but effecting everybody in the community as well. This study shows the harsh truth about factory farms and how they are ruining rural communities. But also on a brighter side explains how supporting local farmers benefits the consumer as well as the local economy, and explains the many ways to support small-scale, local farms.

Throughout the world there are many industries ranging from the textile and oil industries to corporate production and economic related businesses. These industries have been around for hundreds of thousands of years and will continue to be present far greater than society today’s lifespan. They are the backbone and driving force of the world. Of these numerous industries, the largest and oldest is the Agricultural Industry. Since around twelve thousand years ago, agriculture has been the number one leading industry of the world for both producers as well as consumers with its variety of services and commodities, products that can be bought and sold, that it provides. This includes everything from the food people eat on a daily basis to the very clothes they wear or even the small gardens in their backyard for fresh produce or flowers. It is a large contributor to the American and world economies. Agriculture and its related industries provide for an estimated eleven percent of United States jobs (“Ag and Food Sectors…”). Society is surrounded by agriculture constantly whether it is indirectly or through working in the field itself by farming or ranching Most people’s careers are very loosely connected to agriculture in some sort of way even if they do not seem to realize it. California is well known for it’s farming and ranching industry; however, the massive drought the state is currently facing has been affecting the farming industry greatly and if society does not take