-
1810
- Dairy cooperative is established in Connecticut
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1858
- Maryland's agricultural college sets up the first experiment station.
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1861
- Dakota Territory was created in 1861.
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1862
- The Land Grant College Act is signed setting up agricultural colleges.
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1862
- Homestead Act is signed. This enabled anyone, 21 years old or
the head of a family, and who was a citizen or had filed papers
to become a citizen to claim either 80 or 160 acres of land. They
had to live on the land and improve it.
-
1863
- Dakota is opened to homesteading in 1863 with free public land
given to people willing to farm. Settlement was slow until completion
of the Northern Pacific Railroad provided dependable transportation.
North Dakota's population was registered at 2,405 in 1870, increasing
to 190,983 in 1890.
Early 1900's - Theodore Roosevelt asks USDA to start a cooperative
movement for farmers.
-
1902
- The first group of elementary students in Ohio organizes to grow
corn test soils, and have small gardens. The foster the first 4-H
groups.
-
1919
- State-owned Bank of North Dakota is established. Farm loan program
was established with the sale of bonds offering loans for longer
terms under lower interest and more flexible repayment plans than
those extended by private lenders. Tax levies were necessary from
the beginning to cover service costs on the outstanding bonds, and
the Bank of North Dakota program was forced into liquidation in
1934.
-
1922
- North Dakota Mill and Elevator begins operating as a value-added
market for wheat produced in North Dakota. It is the only state-owned
milling facility in the United States. With five milling units,
the Mill now produces and ships 22,000 cwt. of milled product daily.
In addition, the Mill ships over 7,000 cwt. of food grade bran and
wheat midds daily.
-
1967
Drought and dust-bowl conditions develop causing a nation-wide depression.
-
1933
- 40 - New Deal legislation increased government involvement
in agriculture.1968 - The first major government program was the
Agricultural Adjustment Act which initiated crop and marketing controls.
-
1947
- The United States and 22 other nations created the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Its purpose was to lower tariffs and
reduce trade restrictions.
-
1973
- After worldwide crop failures, 1973 and 1974 offered a great market.
The US Secretary of Agriculture was encouraging farmers to plant
"fence-row to fence-row" and to "get bigger, get
better, or get out." Farms and farmer's incomes were growing,
but so was farm debt as the industry moved toward bigger and better
machinery to work the increased acreage.
-
1980
- A grain embargo on the Soviet Union decreases US ag exports. The
bottom falls out of agricultural prices and land values. By 1982,
net farm income, when adjusted for inflation, was lower than during
the Great Depression.
-
1980
- Biotechnology becomes a viable technique for enhancing crops and
livestock.
-
1983
- USDA Secretary John Block implemented a payment-in-kind (PIK)
program, resulting in the third-largest acreage reduction ever.
-
1985
Food Security Act lowered government supports, promoted exports,
and set up the Conservation Reserve Program
-
1989
- 30 million acres retired under the Conservation Reserve Program
of the 1985 Food Security Act.
-
1996
- Freedom to Farm Act: Passed by the Congress and signed by President
Clinton in 1996. The law aimed to phase out subsidies and ease regulations
as well as promote exports to make farming profitable without government
aid. Many feel the law has not worked.
-
1998
- A $6.2 billion dollar emergency aid package was distributed to
farmers.
-
1999
- Direct federal payments to farmers rise to a record $23 billion
