 Economic Cycles
|
1970-80
Inflation rates increase, while economic growth slows |
Farm Economy
|
1972
Russian wheat sale brings higher farm prices |
Farmers & the Land
|
1970
Total population: 204,335,000; farm population:
9,712,000; farmers 4.6% of labor force; Number of farms: 2.780, 000;
average acres: 390
1972
Clean Water Act |
Farm Machinery & Technology
|
1970-79
Commercial fertilizer use:
43,643,700 tons/year
1970s
No-tillage agriculture popularized
1970
One
farmer supplies 47.7 persons (est.)
1975
2-3
labor-hours required to produce 100 pounds (1/5 acre) of lint cotton with tractor, 2-row stalk cutter, 20-foot disk, 4-row bedder and planter,
4-row cultivator with herbicide applicator, and 2-row harvester
3-3/4 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels
(3 acres) of wheat with tractor, 30-foot sweep disk, 27-foot
drill, 22-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks; 3-1/3
labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (1 1/8 acres) of corn with tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot
herbicide applicator, 12-foot self-propelled combine, and trucks |
Crops & Livestock
|
1970
Plant Variety Protection Act; Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Norman
Borlaug for developing high-yielding wheat varieties
1972
Molecular biologist Paul Berg pioneers the techniques that make possible the transfer of genes from one strand of DNA to another
1975
Lancota wheat introduced
1978
Hog cholera officially eradicated
1979
Purcell winter wheat introduced |
Transportation
|
1972-74
Russian grain sale causes massive tie-ups in rail system |
Agricultural Trade & Development
|
1970-79
Agricultural exports: $19.8
billion/year or 19% of total exports
1971
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research organized
to fund regional research institutes in developing countries
1972
I ncreased exports to Soviet Union and elsewhere absorb agricultural
surpluses, especially of grains and oilseeds
1979
Grain embargo against the Soviet Union following its invasion of Afghanistan |
Life on the Farm
|
1970s
Rural areas experience prosperity and immigration
1968
90% of all farms have phones;
98.6% have electricity |
Farm Organizations & Movements
|
1970
7,994 cooperatives with 6.2 million members
1970
Earth Day is celebrated for the first time
1971
The Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association is organized
1973
Fifty farmers organize California Certified Organic Farmers
1979
The American Agriculture Movement organizes a "tractorcade"
demonstration in Washington, DC |
Agricultural Education & Extension
|
1970
853,000 students enrolled
in agricultural courses
1974
Agreement between USDA and land-grant colleges establishes Council
on International Science and Education |
Government Programs & Policy
|
1970s
Surplus disposal through sales abroad leads to easing of production
controls and great reliance on market prices
1970
Agricultural Act reduces controls; Environmental Quality Improvement
Act
1972
Rural Development Act
1973
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act emphasizes maintaining or
increasing instead of controlling production |
|
