This Month in Agricultural History (August 2019)
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This month we look at the history of farmer's markets and their role in different decades throughout the Great Plains and how these weekend events often connect rural and urban communities together. For this month in agricultural history, we return to August of 1959, Hawaii becomes the 50th state under the Eisenhower Administration, which adds new crops for mainland consumption but also reflects longer problematic tensions between American mainland policies and Island communities--agriculture being key to understand both.
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This Month in Agricultural History (July 2019)
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This month, we look at the role of agrarianism and rural knowledge in the early republic and the connections to farming as well as the ideas of rural life and democracy. In addition, we explore the cultural notions about self-sufficiency and expertise (agricultural science) that continue to make and remake our region today. And, for this month in agricultural history, we return to July 1821 when Thomas Jefferson writes to Thomas Mann Randolph about the value of agrarian life and its future role in shaping the nation.
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This Month in Agricultural History (June 2019)
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This month, we consider the Arts and Crafts Movement that connects to the history of Nebraska and Great Plains region. This movement also emphasizes agrarian attitudes and values through artistic expressions throughout the late 1800s and 1900s. We also look at how Arts and Crafts connects the Country Life Movement and the Great Depression era later. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to June 1933 at the Art Institute a new exhibition is unveiled: "A Century of Progress" where Grant Wood relays his famous "American Gothic painting."
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This Month in Agricultural History (May 2019)
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This month, we look at the pests and the Great Plains--the roles they play in the agricultural landscapes and larger ecosystems of the grasslands as well as the technologies and cultural attitudes around these "noxious" residents. And for this month in agricultural history, may 1875, Grasshopper plague hits the High Plains and Great Plains, which devastates crop land and forges new relationships between rural communities and agricultural science communities.
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This Month in Agricultural History (April 2019)
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This month, we consider the history of agricultural fairs in the Great Plains, Agrarianism, the Country Life Movement, and demonstration trains all connect to the modern fair and its important role in rural communities. For this month in agricultural history, we return to April 1872 for Arbor Day, which celebrated the ecological and agricultural science of forestry.
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This Month in Agricultural History (March 2019)
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This month, we look at the history of winter storms and the role of disasters in Nebraska and Great Plains agriculture. A crucial part of this history combines the relationships of technology, community, and environment. This topic also helps us better understand lessons to assist the what's ahead for Nebraska agriculture and the larger region. For this month in agricultural history, we go to March 2019 to consider the blizzards and subsequent flooding as a key moment in the early 21st Century to understand the environmental and agricultural challenges ahead.
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This Month in Agricultural History (February 2019)
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This month, we celebrate the 150 anniversary of UNL and the Nebraska University System. University of Nebraska guided land grant innovations, contributed to the Chemurgy movement, and pioneered ecological science and agricultural science throughout the twentieth century. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to February 1869 to celebrate the establishment of University of Nebraska and its agricultural and ecological work.
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This Month in Agricultural History (January 2019)
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This month, we discussed the historic work of university extension and experiment stations at Land Grant colleges in the Great Plains. The significance of expertise, relationships, continue to persist in their value in rural areas in the region and remain key today.. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to January 1870 when farmer institutes began to expand, helping build extension and experiment station networks throughout the Great Plains into the twentieth century.
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This Month in Agricultural History (December 2018)
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This month, we talked about the role of cookbooks and Great Plains agriculture. From recipes, ingredients to the regions, cookbooks connect historical memories around culture, food, and place. For this month in agricultural history, we return to December of 1789 when President Washington's holiday recipes began to be published around the country. His Christmas eggnog was a hit!
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This Month in Agricultural History (November 2018)
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This month, we talked about how Great Plains agriculture contributed to the World War II effort, the Crop Corp, Women's Land Army, Victory Farms and Gardens, and more! And for this month in agricultural history we return to November 1942 and the passage of the Ration and Repair Order to encourage localized repairs for farm implements. This order also encouraged an "Ag Repair" culture that continued to shape the region long after the war.
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This Month in Agricultural History (October 2018)
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This month we discussed the economic and environmental disasters of the Great Depression in the Great Plains. We survey the historical complexities of depressed rural economies, severity of hardships and issues around local and federal assistance, and finally briefly discuss the Dust Bowl and the dust storms of the 1930s. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to October 1935 when some of the most famous photographs of dust storms and rural displacement begin to be republished in national journals across the country.
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This Month in Agricultural History (September 2018)
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This month we talked about how the Great Plains has played an historic role in how residents of the region but also Americans across the country have responded to natural disasters. We explore how the Great Plains became an instructive region for communities and ultimately the federal government viewed hazard, risk, and preparedness. For this month in agricultural history, we return to September 1874 when Nebraska Governor Robert Furnas and the state's Relief and Aid Association helped provide relief efforts to locus infestation in the Great Plains and Intermountain West.
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This Month in Agricultural History (August 2018)
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This month we discussed how to look for agricultural history in unexpected places. I explore "off-the-beaten-path" topics such as chemurgy, agricultural artists, agricultural writers and how their work illustrates the dynamic STEM-Humanities history of Great Plains agriculture. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to August of 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Flood Control Act of 1941 to help rural places with hydrology projects and flood prevention.
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This Month in Agricultural History (July 2018)
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This month we continued to discuss the history of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act and it's historical legacies for liberal arts public education, science, technology, and agricultural production throughout the Great Plains. For this month in agricultural history, we return to July 1862, when president Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-Grant Act into law.
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This Month in Agricultural History (June 2018)
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This month we discussed the origins, and importance of rural libraries; the establishment and growth of land-grant universities, ways to get engaged in learning about and helping rural libraries, and more!
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This Month in Agricultural History (May 2018)
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This month we discussed recent reports on the problems of commodity agriculture and challenges of rural agricultural economies. We take a look back at the Country Life Commission and its efforts to safeguard the rights of farmers and rural communities as the United States experienced rapid industrial expansion in the early Twentieth Century. Some takeaways of this history to assist us today: The importance of local and regional voices and leadership and understanding the many environmental, economic, and technological interconnections in Great Plains agriculture. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to May 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln singed the Homestead Act into law.
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This Month in Agricultural History (April 2018)
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This month we discussed the Great Plains role in the larger history of global food security. I discussed the policies, politics, and people involved in the agricultural science and policymaking throughout the Cold War era that placed this region at the forefront of drought and famine relief. We also briefly explore Republican Congressman (R-Illinois) Paul Findley's efforts in famine mitigation in the 1970s and 1980s. For this month in agricultural history, we return to 1984 to discuss the implementation of agricultural warning systems in the context of the American Farm Crisis and global environmental hazards.
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This Month in Agricultural History (March 2018)
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This month we discussed the history of agricultural fairs in Nebraska and the Great Plains. Fairs have long been exciting ways for rural communities to meet and play but throughout their long history in the region, agricultural fairs also provided opportunities for farmers, scientists, ranchers to learn from each other and connect with rural places. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to March 1973 and the founding of National Agriculture Day. This national event combines the ideas of fairs, technical innovation, and rural communities.
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This Month in Agricultural History (February 2018)
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This month we discussed the agricultural roots and origins of American Baseball. From the ballpark to players to mascots, America's pastime has many connections to rural places.
And, for this month in agricultural history, we return to February of 1889 to discuss when the United Department of Agricultural (USDA) became an official presidential cabinet position and how this change reflected the larger country's turn toward an industrial system of agriculture. |
This Month in Agricultural History (January 2018)
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This month we discussed the role that agricultural science and agricultural aviation played in the postwar (World War Two) use of herbicides and insecticides for industrial farming throughout the Great Plains. I also discussed the official release of my book Chemical Lands: Pesticides, Aerial Spraying, and Health in North America's Grasslands since 1945. And, for this month in agricultural history we go back to January 1944 to the North Central Weed Control Conference meeting in Omaha to create a forum for pilots, farmers, and agricultural scientists to discuss new chemical advances and their hazards.
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This Month in Agricultural History (December 2017)
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This month we continue to talk about the 1948 - 1949 blizzards that hit Nebraska and the Great Plains. Many Great Plains residents were long snowbound and found assistance from neighbors, local municipalities, and federal emergency assistance in the form of air drops of Operation Snowbound and Operation Haylift that included the Kearney, Nebraska Airbase. This environmental emergency also saw the formation of KRVN as a response to the blizzards. And for this month in agricultural history, we look at the relationship between President Truman's efforts to rescue connected to foreign policy strategies in with the Berlin air drop.
Also, I am in the beginning stages of an oral history/ public history project to record those individuals/ families who survived the blizzards or were involved with rescue operations. If you would like to be interviewed as part of my project, please contact me at [email protected]. |
This Month in Agricultural History (November 2017)
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This month we discussed the formation and historical legacies of the Great Plains Agricultural Council. Their collaborative efforts helped Great Plains residents during the dust storms and drought of the 1930s. The GPAC went on to support and guide agricultural science experiments in Nebraska and other Great Plains states throughout the Cold War era and beyond. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to November 1948 when the historic blizzards plagued Nebraska and the Great Plains.
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This Month in Agricultural History (October 2017)
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This month we discussed the historical ideas around agricultural extension, demonstration trains of the early 1900s, and the importance of rural community outreach. And for this month in agricultural history, we return to October 1933 and Milo Reno's National Farmer's Holiday Association (NFHA) protests.
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This Month in Agricultural History (September 2017)
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I'm starting a monthly agricultural history segment with KRVN 880 Rural Radio Network. We had a terrific discussion about the role of agricultural history in Nebraska and the Great Plains. I also shared about my new book Chemical Lands: Pesticides, Aerial Spraying, and Health in North America's Grasslands since 1945 and we visited about the importance of history outreach to rural communities.
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