 Economic Cycles
|
1939-45
World War II; wartime recovery
1946-70
Postwar boom |
Farm Economy
|
1945-60
Expansion of vertical integration, especially in the broiler industry |
Farmers & the Land
|
1940
Total population: 131,820,000;
farm population: 30,840,000; farmers 18% of labor force; Number of
farms: 6,102,000; average acres: 175; irrigated acres: 17,942,968
1940s
Many former southern sharecroppers migrate to war-related jobs in
cities |
Farm Machinery & Technology
|
1940-49
Commercial fertilizer use:
13,590,466 tons/year
1940
One
farmer supplies 10.7 persons (est.)
1941-45
Frozen foods popularized
1942
Spindle cottonpicker produced commercially
1945-70
Change from horses to tractors and increasing technological practices
characterize the second American agricultural revolution; productivity
per acre begins sharp rise
1945
10-14
labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2 acres) of corn with tractor, 3-bottom plow, 10-foot tandem disk, 4-section harrow,
4-row planters and cultivators, and 2-row picker; 42
labor-hours required to produce 100 pounds (2/5 acre) of lint cotton with 2 mules, 1-row plow, 1-row cultivator, hand hoe, and hand pick |
Crops & Livestock
|
1940s and 1950s
Acreages of crops, such as oats, required for horse and mule feed
drop sharply as farms use more tractors
1945-55
Increased use of herbicides and pesticides
1947
U.S. cooperates with Mexico to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease |
Transportation
|
1942
Office of Defense Transportation established to coordinate wartime
transport needs |
Agricultural Trade & Development
|
1940-49
Agricultural exports: $2.42
billion/year or 22% of total exports
1940-46
Overseas assistance during wartime emergency
1945
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration established
1945
Food and Agriculture Organization of the Untied Nations established
1946
International Emergency Food Council established
1947
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) establishes working
procedures that have substantially reduced tariffs between member
nations
1948
Foreign Assistance Act provides for European Recovery Program
1949
International Wheat Program |
Life on the Farm
|
1940
58% of all farms have cars; 25% have phones;
33% have electricity |
Farm Organizations & Movements
|
1947
National Farm Labor Union (formerly Southern Tenant Farmers Union)
organizes strike among California farmworkers |
Agricultural Education & Extension
|
1940
584,000 students enrolled
in agricultural courses
1941
Extension agents work in every rural county in the country, including
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
1946-54
Land-grant college enrollment increases greatly as veterans enroll
under G.I. bill |
Government Programs & Policy
|
1941
National Victory Garden Program launched; Steagall Amendment provides
for price support to expand production of nonbasic commodities
1942-49
Price controls and food rationing during wartime emergency
1946
National School Lunch Act; Research and Marketing Act provides for
research in improving marketing and distribution of agricultural products
1948, 1949
Agricultural Acts incorporate principle of flexible price support
and provide change in parity formula |
|
