History Lesson 🗓️Key Dates 1785-1900

IMPORTANT DATES (in agriculture history)

Good morning. We thought we would do a bit of a different type of lesson today. Here's a list of some key dates (1785-1900) that helped shape the agriculture industry. These events were responsible for growing the average farm to be able to feed 166 people per farmer.

1785: The Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and other ag groups were organized.

1793: Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.

1802: The first agricultural fair in Arlington, VA instituted by George Washington Parke Custis

1810: First published agricultural periodical, The Agricultural Museum, began circulation.

1820: Agriculture Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives established.

1825: U.S. Senate follows suit by establishing their Agriculture Committee.

1834: McCormick reaper was patented.

1840's: Commercial farming grew due to the boom of factory-made agricultural machinery.

1850's: Fields grew in size with the development of the commercial corn and wheat belts.

1862: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was established.

1862: Morrill Land Grant College Act passed to propel ag education and the founding of many well-known 'State Schools'.

1862: Homestead Act passed giving 160 acres to anyone willing to farm it.

1865-70: Slave plantation system in the South replaced with the sharecropping system.

1874: Barbed wire became available allowing rangeland to be fenced and ending unrestricted, open grazing.

1887: Federal-State cooperation in agricultural research facilitated by Hatch Experiment Station Act.

1890: Second Morrill Land Grant Act broadened the land-grant program and funded black land-grant schools.

1890: First Federal Meat Inspection Act passed.

1896: Rural Free Delivery (RFD) started.

Source: USDA

Hopefully you found some of these key dates from 1785-1900 interesting. Keep an eye on your inbox, as our next history lesson will highlight events from 1900-2000.

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