History of Agricultural Extension

Across the Great State of California, we have begun to see a revolution in a way many have not seen in quite some time. No, I'm not referring to some great political or religious revolution. No, what I’m talking about is an agricultural revolution that concentrates of not only bringing back true fresh produce, but also educating the youth of the state about agriculture as well. You may ask yourself, who is in fact leading this revolution?

There used to be a lot more farmers, each one with a smaller farm, but growing quite a few different products like corn, wheat, hay, barley, oats, etc. Today there are a lot less farmers, but about the same amount of land is being farmed. Each farmer has a much bigger acreage to cultivate. Now each farmer specializes in one product. This way each farmer is more efficient in what they grow.. The most produced commodities are grains, oil seeds, dried beans and peas at 42%, other crops and hay account for another 31%. Now, most products are enhanced of fertilizers and pesticides, although there is an increasing demand for organic products which are overall more

Farmers did well after the Civil War and into the 1880s with plentiful rainfall and easy credit from banks. In the 1890s, however, American farmers suffered from drought, poor harvests, restrictive tariff and fiscal policies, low commodity prices, and competition from abroad. A downward swing in the business cycle exacerbated their plight, and many farmers in the Plains filed for

The Farmer’s Plight During the late nineteenth century, the Western United States had already been settled and people were starting to move to urban cities in the East, but farmers stayed out in the West and suffered from many different issues. At this time, there was a massive influx of immigrants coming from Southern and Eastern Europe and many of these immigrants settled in the Mid West and became farmers. Prior to this time period, the United States used the Gold Standard which meant that gold was the only form of currency. big business was very powerful due to the Laissez-faire government system which allowed big business to operate without regulation.

The Middle Ages, or Dark Ages, of the 15th century, established a policy regarding the practice of agriculture that later became known as feudalism. The monarchy bestowed vast tracts of land and an ennobling title to individuals who were tasked with keeping a functioning economy in their lands and maintaining a private militia for the protection of the realm and fiefdom they owned. These aristocrats allocated parcels of land to the serfs, or peasants, in exchange for complete rustic servitude and the privilege being allowed to live on that lord's land. Any crops or animals that were cultivated belonged to the realm and peasants were only permitted to keep a meager portion of their efforts. This archaic practice, established during the era

Aside from the acquisition of initial land for cultivation, new farmers faced another challenge equally aggressive; farm expansion. It was to be expected that a farmer who wished to make profit out of his exploits should consider expanding their total land under cultivation.

Indian groups have adopted agriculture. The ability to grow crops has a huge implication for the

Free Trade in Agriculture: Under Title 7 of the U.S. Code the agriculture secretary should lead the development of new foreign and domestic markets for agricultural products, as well as expansion the both existing markets.

I was sitting in my history class one day when another classmate walked over to me and asked what my shirt meant. I realized that I was wearing my FFA shirt and then I explained what it was and what I did in it. He still didn’t understand, He asked me “So you are just training to be a farmer basically?” I told him no and then I started to explain all the things I had learned in Ag, from how to tie a tie all the way to how much nutrients you need to add to fertilizer to have healthy plants. He never realized that Agriculture Education isn’t just about farming. My mission in life is to represent Agriculture Education and teach others about it and how much it has to offer people. Through the history of Agriculture education and FFA to the unmeasurable effects it has on people.

In the19th century there was a farmer and his pregnant wife that lived in a house next to a creek with a bridge that went over it. When the farmer's wife had their baby the farmer got gellous because his wife loved the baby more than him. One night when the baby started to cry during the night, the farmer picked it up by its arms and threw it in the creek. He then went inside and killed his wife. Legend say that when you stop on that bridge you can hear the baby crying and the mom and baby will try to throw your car off the bridge.

(Hasan and Özay 2002, 73-74). As Albiac (2008) reports, development of pipe network distribution and drip irrigation methods in other countries led the farmers to have remarkable irrigation efficiency in drought (143). Such technologies have already been used in China, but they are not widely spread in China’s agriculture. One investigation in China on rice paddy irrigation systems development was performed and it revealed that using the fry-foot paddy irrigation (when no water flooded the field) instead of flooding irrigation (when the rice field is completely flooded) significantly (40-60%) reduces water consumption (Xiaoping, Qiangsheng and Bin 2004, 351). Furthermore, drip irrigation method was applied in arid Northern China and it raised the water usage efficiency (Du et al 2007). However, introduction of new irrigation technologies faced some difficulties in China. As Hodstedt (2010) noticed in his article, the water saved by these technologies such as drip irrigation systems was simply spent on more food production and, therefore, did not reduce the water shortage. Also, as he reported, this caused two other environmental problems. Firstly, the water, which was the supply for underground water and aquifers as it was lost by deep percolation and leakage, became unavailable after the water-saving technologies were introduced and this strengthened the aquifers depleting along with its overpumping. Secondly, after

Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the land. Farmers no longer have to rely on direct, and sometimes insufficient rainfall to water crops. Perennial irrigation was practiced in the Mesopotamian plain where crops were regularly watered throughout the growing season by water traveling through small channels that were dug in fields.

Farming in Africa is inadequate and inefficient. The fertility of the soil is becoming depleted and severely reducing the amount of crops from each harvest (Ayieko). This problem is due to over farming the land and not allowing for crop rotation to replenish the nutrients in the soil. This is a practice that is used by most farmers around the globe. Continuing on this trend will risk the land becoming barren and unable to support plant life.

The Agriculture sector has changed monumentally over the past century in response to vast economic change and technological advancements. Farm subsidies are various forms of payments from the federal government put in place in an effort to stabilize prices, keep farmers in business, and ensure quality of crops. The federal government currently pays $20 billion in cash each year to US farmers and spent an estimated $250 billion between 1995-2005. Presently, a new farm bill is passed every five years

In this unit’s text, we learned about modernization of society and how agriculture permitted nomadic hunt-and-gather groups to become stabilized and centralized in one location. The text and supporting video clips introduced both positive and negative anthropological effects of the rise of agriculture. Three positive outcomes include stabilization, improved nutrition, and food surplus. For each of these positive instances, there is an alternate and negative impact as well: habitat destruction, feast and famine cycles, and health concerns. This essay will briefly expound on each positive outcome and its counterpart, and will relate the sustainable agrarian achievements of the people of the Gamo Highlands to these effects.