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Corn was the nation's top crop in 1912, followed by hay, cotton, wheat, oats and potatoes. New technology spurred change and diversification in agriculture, including production of row crops in addition to small grains. Yields increase Farmers nearly doubled their income during the first decade of the 1900's. There was a record corn crop in 1909 and the third largest wheat crop. This greatly affected the lives of farm families increasing their living standards and allowing them to break out of their isolation. Prices also continued to
climb despite increases in production. Production increased to a new
high in 1912. Innovations in farming During the opening half of the nineteenth century, people who traveled in the Great Plains thought of it as a sterile desert that was uncultivable except where irrigation was possible. They soon began to find that cattle thrived on the natural grasses of the Plains. A variety of methods were devised to counter the effects of drought. The "Scientific Farming System" was developed by a South Dakota farmer Hardy Webster Campbell and published in 1902. Campbell's system set up a routine designed to retain the precipitation of two years for use during a single crop season by developing a reservoir of moisture in the subsoil and reducing surface evaporation. The farming system required deep plowing, a packed subsoil, frequent surface cultivation, and cropping on land that was kept fallow throughout the previous growing season. Campbell's methods reassured prospective settlers that the hazards of semiarid conditions were surmountable. The system was modified over the years adding crop rotation, diversification, and incorporating livestock into farming operations. The North Dakota Bankers Association started a campaign that helped bring about the legislation establishing the county extension service for agricultural education. The Campbell system was not widely practiced. Virgin soil was producing a high yield of wheat and the wartime demand for wheat pushed farmers into continuous cropping. The climate difficulties were offset by some advantages. The limited rainfall meant fewer soil nutrients were leached from the soil so fertilizer was unnecessary through the settlement period. Most of the rain that did fall was during the growing season when it was needed. The warm, dry weather helped give the wheat a high protein content that made it more valuable. North Dakota is still primarily farmed through dry-land practices. In 1987, less than 1 percent of the harvested-crop acreage in western North Dakota were irrigated. In the 1980's, the US government began taking some of this dry land out of production through the Conservation Reserve program. The program was set up to decrease production and increase prices.
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Each
year, the settlers broke more land. After plowing, they would put up
hay and later ploy the new breaking a second time. During the first
summer, the settler would build a sod stable, perhaps fourteen by thirty
feet, or cover a coulee bank with branches and straw as a place for
his stock. The second season started with seeding; poor settlers had
to broadcast wheat by hand. Then followed the breaking of new land,
haying, harvesting, threshing, and finally, plowing the stubble and
backsetting the new breaking. On fall nights, burning strawstacks dotted
the prairie.