Overview

From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, farmers in the Corn Belt transformed their region into a new, industrial powerhouse of large-scale production, mechanization, specialization, and efficiency. Many farm experts and implement manufacturers had urged farmers in this direction for decades, but it was the persistent labor shortage and cost-price squeeze following WWII that prompted farmers to pave the way to industrializing agriculture. Anderson examines the changes in Iowa, a representative state of the Corn Belt, in order to explore why farmers adopted particular technologies and how, over time, they integrated new tools and techniques. In addition to the impressive field machinery, grain storage facilities, and automated feeding systems were the less visible, but no less potent, chemical technologies—antibiotics and growth hormones administered to livestock, as well as insecticide, herbicide, and fertilizer applied to crops. Much of this new technology created unintended consequences: pesticides encouraged the proliferation of resistant strains of plants and insects while also polluting the environment and threatening wildlife, and the use of feed additives triggered concern about the health effects to consumers. In Industrializing the Corn Belt, J. L. Anderson explains that the cost of equipment and chemicals made unprecedented demands on farm capital, and in order to maximize production, farmers planted more acres with fewer but more profitable crops or specialized in raising large herds of a single livestock species. The industrialization of agriculture gave rural Americans a lifestyle resembling that of their urban and suburban counterparts. Yet the rural population continued to dwindle as farms required less human labor, and many small farmers, unable or unwilling to compete, chose to sell out. Based on farm records, cooperative extension reports, USDA publications, oral interviews, trade literature, and agricultural periodicals, Industrializing the Corn Belt offers a fresh look at an important period of revolutionary change in agriculture through the eyes of those who grew the crops, raised the livestock, implemented new technology, and ultimately made the decisions that transformed the nature of the family farm and the Midwestern landscape.

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9780875807416

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Reviews

Through a carefully researched investigation of Iowa, J. L. Anderson delivers a renegade interpretation that highlights farmers as the primary agents of agrarian change. An illuminating case, powerful analysis, and a poignant story. <i>The Journal of American History</i></p> An excellent piece of historical research. There is no other book that deals in depth and breadth with the important subjects considered here. Allan Bogue, University of Wisconsin</p> For too long, American agriculture in the post-war era has been the domain of economists and rural sociologists. With a historian s touch focusing first and foremost on the farmers themselves Anderson provides a fresh, compelling treatment of this crucial period of immense social, economic, technological, and environmental change. David Vaught, Texas A&M University</p> Anderson s work [has] a nuance that writiers who focus on the net effect of agricultural change often miss. <i>Journal of Illinois History</i></p></p> [This] book is well worth reading .The impact of the revolution Anderson recounts affects all Americans. <i>The Annals of Iowa</i></p>

Through a carefully researched investigation of Iowa, J. L. Anderson delivers a renegade interpretation that highlights farmers as the primary agents of agrarian change. An illuminating case, powerful analysis, and a poignant story. The Journal of American History An excellent piece of historical research. There is no other book that deals in depth and breadth with the important subjects considered here. Allan Bogue, University of Wisconsin For too long, American agriculture in the post-war era has been the domain of economists and rural sociologists. With a historian s touch focusing first and foremost on the farmers themselves Anderson provides a fresh, compelling treatment of this crucial period of immense social, economic, technological, and environmental change. David Vaught, Texas A&M University Anderson s work [has] a nuance that writiers who focus on the net effect of agricultural change often miss. Journal of Illinois History [This] book is well worth reading .The impact of the revolution Anderson recounts affects all Americans. The Annals of Iowa

Author Information

J. L. Anderson teaches US history at Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta, where he is a member of the Department of Humanities.

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