Growing A Nation by Debra Spielmaker

Growing a Nation uses instructional design and innovative technology to bring depth and meaning to historical events. The program and lesson plans merge seamlessly with existing American history textbooks and high school history curricula. Growing a Nation is. . . A chronological presentation of significant historical events focused on the important role agriculture has played in Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development A teaching tool to aid teacher-led discussions, with meaningful questions that foster group dialogue and interaction A resource designed to support national standards for teaching American history Visit the Growing a Nation website at www.agclassroom.org/gan to download more program resources and to view the. . . National standards met by this program Program narration text Embedded primary source documents History of American Agriculture timeline Lesson plans and activities Extensive photo gallery Audio and video media center

Welcome to Growing a Nation’s chronological presentation of significant historical events focuses on the important role agriculture has played in America’s development. Students gain an appreciation of our agricultural history and how agricultural events have affected our lives in America today. Statistical data are supplied to analyze trends or allow students a look into the future. The program’s resources can be further enhanced by visiting the Growing a Nation website, agclassroom.org/gan. The website provides educators with classroom resources and activities including: primary sources, assessment options, an easily navigated timeline, photo gallery, and the national standards met by this program. Your comments via the website are appreciated. Growing a Nation has been designed as a flexible resource for secondary United States history courses. The “Story of American Agriculture” has been broken into four lessons: Lesson 1: 1600–1929, Seeds of Change Lesson 2: 1930–1949, From Defeat to Victory Lesson 3: 1950–1969, Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 4: 1970–Present, Into a New Millennium. This interactive program is a useful resource for U.S. history teachers and their students. The CD is not designed to be used as a student tutorial or to be viewed as a full-featured movie. It is recommended that screens from particular historical time periods be used throughout the year. Growing a Nation works seamlessly with textbooks as screens have been designed to “stand alone” and mesh with historical content. The program should be used throughout the course as time periods and events are discussed. The multimedia program is intended as a teaching tool to aid teacher-led discussions or to facilitate learning in small cooperative learning groups. Each lesson includes several screens that, with the use of multimedia, engage students in the story. Growing a Nation features a total of 44 screens of historical content, told as the story of American agriculture, and 263 embedded resources. Each slide contains embedded resources that add content and meaningful questions that foster group dialogue and interaction. The program can be employed in a variety of ways to suit specific educational Growing a Nation i

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goals: by turning the audio off, isolating screens for a particular time period, or selecting only the embedded resources. The audio narration can be turned off to access embedded resources more quickly. Screen narration can be accessed by clicking on the dropdown arrow in the upper left hand corner of each screen. The “Menu” button will navigate the user through the lessons while the “Index” button will display the screen titles in each lesson. Screens can be launched in any order from the Index menu. The icons on the right are used in the program as navigation tools. This Instructional Unit contains all of the Growing a Nation narratives and Embedded Resource texts, images, and questions. The Embedded Resource Cards also identify U.S. History Standards content. Like the Growing a Nation CD, the Instructional Unit has been divided into four lessons. Each lesson uses the Embedded Resources with a variety of suggested teaching strategies to enhance historical understanding. Embedded Resource activities and other activities included in the lessons can be used independently from the Growing a Nation CD. Additional classroom resources can be found on the Growing a Nation website.

Embedded Resource Icons

Notable Quotations American Experience

Geographical Information

Political Events Biographies

Educational Influence

Web Links

Science & Technology

Important Statistics

Film/Video Media

Audio Media Growing a Nation ii

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Introduction Some things never change Our country has witnessed sweeping changes—from the untamed wild times of Buffalo Bill to the technological era of Bill Gates—but food has never lost its central role in our lives. Food not only sustains life but also enriches us in many ways. It warms us on cold, dreary days, entices us with its many aromas, and provides endless variety to the everyday world. Food is also woven into the fabric of our Nation, our culture, our institutions, and our families. Food is on the scene when we celebrate and when we mourn. We use it for camaraderie, as a gift, and as a reward (and sometimes as a crutch). We are all aware of how food has changed. At the turn of the 20th century, home cooking and canning were fixtures of life in America. Lard, seasonal vegetables, potatoes, and fresh meats were the staples of our diet. And 40 percent of Americans lived on farms. Today, convenience foods and dining out are common. Ethnic diversity has influenced our tastes and the variety of foods available. Technology and trade allow us to enjoy most foods all year round. And less than 2 percent of the population grows our food, while 9 percent are involved in the food system in some way—in processing, wholesaling, retailing, service, marketing, and inspection. What Americans often forget, however, is the remarkable system that delivers to us the most abundant, reasonably priced, and safest food in the world. The American food system— from the farmer to the consumer—is a series of interconnected parts. The farmer produces the food, the processors work their magic, and the wholesalers and retailers deliver the products to consumers, whose choices send market signals back through the system. Every piece fits every other piece, notwithstanding an occasional gap and pinch. At the end of the day, it is safe to say the U.S. food system has done a remarkable job of using technology and inventiveness to its advantage and ultimately to the benefit of the consumer. We get the foods we want, when we want them, in the form we want them, all at affordable prices. Thanks to this system, Americans spend less of their income on food than do consumers anywhere else in the world. Despite the dramatic evolution of the American food system, there are some constants in our ever-changing world. Americans will always love food. The American food system will continue to adapt, grow, and provide us with the products we desire. James R. Blaylock, Associate Director Food and Rural Economics Division, ERS Amber Waves, June 2003

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Acknowledgements Dedicated to the American farmer and all who serve to better American agriculture. Funded by: USDA CSREES cooperative agreement #2004-38840-01819 and developed cooperatively by: USDA, Utah State University Extension, and LetterPress Software, Inc. Special Thanks to: Dr. Joseph J. Jen, Under Secretary Research, Education and Economics U.S. Department of Agriculture Utah State University Extension Development Team: Debra Spielmaker – Project Director, Writer, Web Developer Yasuko Mitsuoka – Web and Graphic Designer Denise Stewardson – Instructional Unit Editor U.S. Department of Agriculture Development Team: Linda Drew – Writer, Subject Matter Expert Kathleen Cullinan – Ag in the Classroom National Program Leader Sara Mazie – Project Coordinator Susan Fugate – National Agricultural Library Special Collections LetterPress Software Development Team: Leston Drake – Instructional Design, Programming Mark Lacy – Writer, Instructional Design Mike Petersen – Writer, Instructional Design Mark Lemon – Audio Engineering

America’s government and geography have helped to create agricultural abundance. Because most Americans don’t worry about where their next meal is coming from, we are able to pursue a variety of interests, occupations, hopes, and dreams. Debra Spielmaker, Growing a Nation Project Director

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Table of Contents Lesson 1: 1600–1929 Seeds of Change..................................................1 Lesson 2: 1930–1949 From Defeat to Victory......................................15 Lesson 3: 1950–1969 Prosperity & Challenges.................................... 18 Lesson 4: 1970–Present Into a New Millennium .................................... 21 Appendix 1 Lesson Narratives...............................................32 Appendix 2 Teaching and Learning Strategies and Embedded Resources..................................49 Teaching and Learning Strategies..................50 Lesson 1: Embedded Resources....................54 Lesson 2: Embedded Resources....................98 Lesson 3: Embedded Resources.................. 127 Lesson 4: Embedded Resources..................159 Appendix 3 Primary Source Analysis Activity Sheets......... 189 Appendix 4 Vocabulary.......................................................202 Appendix 5 Assessment Techniques....................................205 Growing a Nation v

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Seeds of Change, Lesson 1: 1600–1929 Materials  Growing a Nation multimedia program, agclassroom.org/gan, and necessary projection equipment or computer lab  Embedded Resource Cards  In the Good Old Days Inventory Activity Sheet  Chronological Event Strips for 1600-1929 for each group of students  Significant Agricultural Events Activity Sheet for each group of students  Cotton Bolls (kit of 35 bolls can be ordered from agclassroom.org/ut or other online source)  Hand lenses, optional Activity 1: Embedded Resource After students view selected slides, assign each student or group of students an Embedded Resource Card (Appendix 2) and ask them to be prepared to answer the Embedded Resource questions either by direct response or by using one of the Teaching and Learning Strategies outlined in Appendix 2. You may want to assign a particular strategy or cut the strategies into strips and ask each student to pick one or two. If the student or group of students is allowed to pick two, ask them to choose the learning strategy they prefer and put the other one back. The embedded resources that pop up on each Growing a Nation screen are designed to be adaptable to a variety of teaching strategies and flexible for diverse learning styles. Each slide contains five or six embedded resources that detail events in American history that can be explored for a greater understanding of the time period or historical cause and effect relationships. Each embedded resource asks higher order questions to not only increase student knowledge but to increase their comprehension to the level of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives). The Teaching and Learning Strategies in Appendix 2 can be applied to nearly all the embedded resources in addition to students answering the embedded resource questions.

National Standards Explored National Standards for Eras 2-10. To view the correlated Standards and the student understanding of each Standard visit agclassroom.org/gan.

Era 4: Standard 2 How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions.

Era 5: Standard 1 The causes of the Civil War.

Era 6: Standard 1 How the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed the American people.

Enduring Understanding The significant events throughout American agricultural history that have changed American society and the lives of her citizens.

Essential Question: What are the major events or inventions that changed American families and communities, science and technology, education, economy, business, trade, labor, and legislation from 1780-1929?

Activity 2: In the Good Old Days Background This lesson plan can be used as an overview to U.S. history or as a review for corresponding National Standards Eras along with the Growing a Nation CD. In the “good old days” a country kid would Growing a Nation 1

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help milk the cows, collect fresh eggs, feed the pigs and pick some berries for breakfast. Today with less than 2% of the population in the United States involved in agriculture, most of your students get milk from cartons, strawberries from a box in the freezer, and their morning routine involves nothing more than choosing their favorite box of cereal from the cupboard. Their connection to their food has been reduced to a visit to the grocery store. But things may be changing. Farmers’ markets are springing up everywhere, bringing fresh produce, meat, dairy products and baked goods even to city dwellers. Community supported agriculture programs involve people in growing and harvesting their own food. Everywhere plots of land are being set aside for community gardens with local libraries checking out tools along with books to get people started growing some of their own food. Many schools are developing innovative educational programs centered on school gardens. And throughout the country, farm “bed and breakfasts” have become popular. Some even offer family vacations where you can become “Old MacDonald” for a week. So even if you don’t live in the country, take the opportunity to become part of agriculture today, and enjoy “the good new days!” In the Good Old Days Activity - Procedures 1. Ask the students whether daily life chores have changed since their parents were children. Ask your students to share their parents’ or grandparents’ childhood stories about things they did around the house that are no longer done today. Are there activities that the students do today that might someday seem dated to their children or grandchildren? 2. Explain to the students that you have prepared an inventory activity sheet to determine the types of agricultural and everyday activities they have done. Tell the students some of the activities on the list may seem like novelties, but they may have been a way of life for their parents or grandparents. Pass out the inventory activity sheet and give them time to read it over. Give them the option of adding a few items to the list. 3. Ask students to complete the activity sheet by putting a check in the box if they have done the activity. 4. Next ask them to find someone in the class that has done the activity, and then write his or her name in the space. Have all the items been done by the students in class? 5. Tell the students that they will now get a chance to survey their parents and their grandparents. Assign students to complete the activity sheet at home by filling in the names of their parent or guardian and, if necessary, a grandparent or neighbor over 65 to fully complete the activity sheet.

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6. When the homework is returned, graph the differences between the generations. As a class count the number of activities the students did compared to those their parents and grandparents did. What kind of differences do the students notice? How many students have grown their own food? How many have made their own clothes? Where do these necessities come from today? Explain to the students that these differences indicate the changes that have taken place over time regarding our relationship to agriculture and our connection to food and fiber production. In the Good Old Days - Additional Activities 1. Try doing some of the activities on the activity sheet with your class, such as natural dyeing or making jam or butter. 2. Make up inventory activity sheets for other subjects or topic areas. It is a good way to assess how much your students know about a particular subject before starting a unit. Adapted from Project Seasons, Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, VT.

Activity 3: Significant Agricultural Events and Impacts: 1600-1929 Background This lesson plan can be used as a pre-assessment overview to U.S. history or as a review for corresponding National Standards Eras along with the Growing a Nation CD. (Download free at agclassroom.org/gan.) Significant Agricultural Events and Impacts - Procedures View with your students selected screens of the Growing a Nation CD. A U.S. history textbook could also be used as a reference for this activity. Chronology Cards Copy for each group or pair of students a set of the Chronology Event Strips (see attached pages) preferably on color for easy sorting between groups, and then cut the events apart into strips. Notice that the strips are separated by eras so that you can select or group the events you would like to use for the activity. (Tip: If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like the strips to be reused, laminate the Chronology Event Strips pages before you cut them apart.) Provide each group with selected event strips for the time periods you are discussing. Ask the groups of students to place the events in chronological order on their desk. Ask them how confident they are about the order. Significant Agricultural Events Timeline Provide each group of students with a Growing a Nation Lesson 1: Significant Agricultural Events Activity Sheet. Ask them to reorganize Growing a Nation 3

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their chronology strips into the correct order based on the data sheet. Together the groups should consider the significance of each event and how it has affected and impacted the cultural/societal categories on the activity sheet. Instruct each group to place a checkmark on the activity sheet, in the appropriate space, if the event had an effect on the cultural/ societal category and impacted or changed how we live in the United States today. The activity sheets should be kept for future reference and completed throughout the course. As you review each era as you progress through the course, students will be able to see the impact agriculture has made on the growth of the nation and how developments in agriculture have changed their lives. Ask students to rank the events periodically or when they complete the course. Which events or event do they think had the most impact? Why? As an optional activity, ask students to prepare an individual or group project (See Appendix 2) on the event they feel had the most impact. Activity 4: King Cotton Background If you ask someone “What was the cause of the Civil War?” chances are they will answer “slavery.” True, but why did the South want or need slaves? Cotton. By examining this important crop, your students will grasp and be able to relate how cotton influenced the slave trade, slave culture, economic policies, the Civil War, and the industrial revolution. Cotton picking was a job for healthy adult slaves. Generally, these slaves would hand pick cotton in the fields all day, and then by candlelight they would join the elderly, infirm, or children to gin the cotton by hand. Ginning cotton means to remove the lint or fiber from the seed. It is important to remember that the more lint one removed from the seed, the more profit from each boll. It would have been important for slaves to remove as much lint as possible from each seed. Your students may have anywhere from 12-42 plus seeds per boll, as did the slaves. A slave could gin one pound of cotton a day. After completing the following classroom activity, your students will be able to determine how many bolls of cotton they would need to make one pair of jeans. In fact, about 120 ginned cotton bolls weigh only one pound. Eli Whitney is generally credited with the invention of the cotton gin (1793). His idea for this machine came while he was watching a cat trying to catch a chicken in the barnyard. The cat’s unsuccessful attempt left him with a claw-full of feathers and no chicken. Whitney decided to try a similar approach with cotton. He basically wanted to “rake” the fiber from the seeds. His machine, operated by a hand-crank, revolutionized the Growing a Nation 4

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production of cotton. With the invention of the cotton gin, one slave could gin 50 pounds of cotton a day. Did this mean plantation owners needed fewer slaves? No, this machine meant cotton was a more profitable crop. Now plantation owners needed more slaves to produce more cotton. This was important to Southerners because their “production only” economy was in a slump. They had virtually no manufacturing. Factories for making fabric (textiles) were primarily in the North and in England. Unlike wool, which has a very long and scale-like fiber, cotton is a short and smooth fiber. These physical differences make wool easier to spin into thread than cotton, either by hand or machine. Spinning cotton by hand is time-consuming and difficult. Wool, and to some extent linen, was the fabric of choice until machine technology made cotton thread production viable. Cotton production in the South was only economical as long as they could sell it to textile manufacturers in the North. Today, the United States produces 43 million tons of cotton annually. The largest cotton producing states are Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia. Cotton is even an important crop in the West. Arizona and California are well-known for their Pima cotton, which is a finer, more expensive cotton fiber. Cotton gins are now very large machines that do the work much faster than when it was done using Eli Whitney’s simple machine. And what do we do with the literally mountains of cottonseed after it is ginned? Most of those fuzzy seeds are fed to dairy cattle or processed into cottonseed oil, which can be found in nearly every kind of snack food including chocolate candy bars. King Cotton - Procedures 1. Share with the students the background information about cotton and slavery. 2. Give each student or group of students one cotton boll (see materials list) for ginning. 3. Have your students examine the woody stem and the boll holding the cotton fibers. Ask them to predict how many seeds they think are in their boll. 4. Ask students if they can understand why it was so painful Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin Growing a Nation 5

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to pick this plant by hand. Would gloves have been available? Would it have been possible to gin cotton by hand with gloves? What may slaves have used to protect their hands from getting cut? 7. Ask students to gin the cotton, removing the seeds from the fibers. Listening to Negro spirituals while your students are ginning will enhance the experience. Slaves sang to pass time while they worked. Many Negro spirituals can be downloaded from negrospirituals.com. What cultural differences may be expressed by this music? Do we still use music to pass the time while we work? What does the kind of music we listen to say about our cultural heritage? 8. Ask students to compare their prediction (step 3) with the actual number of seeds. Were there more or less than they thought? How did they like the work? Why would people have had so few changes of clothes during this period? 9. Discuss the invention of the cotton gin. Ask your students how many years passed after the invention of the cotton gin until the beginning of the Civil War. Did the tension between the Northern and Southern states escalate after this important invention? Additional Discussion Questions & Activities 1. Ask students to consider how many cotton bolls are needed to produce a pair of jeans. Want to find out? Borrow a scale from the science teacher and weigh a pair of jeans and one ginned cotton boll. Do the math; you’ll need to gin about 360 bolls (for jeans that weigh 3 pounds). 2. Have your students examine the fiber under a hand lens or simple magnification lens. They will notice that these short fibers have almost a silky appearance. 3. For a historical perspective of cotton, download the PDF or order the video, Cotton, the Perennial Patriot, available from cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/resources.cfm. 4. For a discussion on modern cotton farming, share with the class an excellent online slide show: “Cotton: From Field to Fabric in Forty Frames.” This presentation describes the major steps involved in producing and processing cotton. It has great pictures and easy-to-read captions. As the teacher, you have control over the speed of the presentation which allows as much time as needed for commentary or questions. Download this free from the National Cotton Council at cotton.org/pubs/cottoncounts/resources.cfm. 5. To contrast wool with cotton, watch the silent film From Wool to Cloth and complete the Motion Picture Analysis Activity Sheet in Appendix 3. (The film may be streamed or downloaded from the Growing a Nation website Classroom Resources.)

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Linking History and Technology One bale of cotton weighs about 480 pounds and is about the size of your refrigerator. 1. Cotton bolls, made up of fiber and seeds, are fed into the cotton gin. The dark arrows show the path of the cotton through the gin. 2. As the handle is turned, the cylinder and brushes rotate. 3. Wire teeth catch the cotton fibers and pull them through narrow wire slots. 4. The seeds are too large to pass through the slots. They fall to the bottom of the gin. 5. Rotating brushes pull cleaned cotton fiber from the wire teeth and sweep it out of the gin. With one bale of cotton you can make one of the following items: 215 pairs of jeans 409 men’s sport shirts 690 terry bath towels 765 men’s dress shirts 1,217 men’s T-shirts 3,085 diapers 4,321 mid-calf socks 313,600 $100 bills

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25. Downloaded music from Internet

24. Played a video game

23. Programmed a VCR

22. Recycled paper or cans

21. Used exercise equipment

20. Played a vinyl record album

19. Shined shoes

18. Ate only food prepared at home for an entire week

17. Watched a black and white TV

16. Split firewood

15. Shucked corn

14. Planted and weeded a garden

13. Milked a cow

12. Canned food

11. Made bread without a machine

10. Made jelly or jam

9. Picked fruit

8. Sewn an article of clothing or quilt

7. Ridden a horse

6. Been hunting or fishing

5. Gone barefoot for a week

4. Gathered eggs

3. Fed a pig, chicken or cow

2. Made a pie

1. Carded and/or spun wool

Find someone who has:

Myself (Checkmark)

In the Good Old Days Inventory Activity Sheet Classmate (Name)

Parent or Guardian (Name/title)

Name Grandparent (or adult over 65)

Significant Agricultural Events Timeline Era 1: Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1629) 1493 Columbus introduces goats, sheep, pigs, hens, fruit, and Old World vegetable seeds. Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) 1607 English colonists in Jamestown, VA, planted grain, potatoes, pumpkins, melon, cotton, oranges, and pineapples. 1609 Indians taught the Jamestown settlers to grow corn. Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s) 1780 U.S. Ambassador Ben Franklin sends soybean seeds back from France. 1786 George Washington breeds the first mules in the U.S. 1790 Total population: 3,929,214; farmers 90% of labor force; U.S. area settled extends westward on average of 255 miles; parts of the frontier cross the Appalachians. 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, patent 1794. Thomas Jefferson invented a moldboard for the plow. 1794 Whiskey Rebellion: Western farmers revolt against a grain tax. Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) 1803 Louisiana Purchase, a port for American farmers. 1805 Cotton replaces tobacco as the main crop in the South. 1807 Steamboats come into use. 1810 Beginning of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Industrial Revolution.â&#x20AC;? 1819 U.S. canning industry started. 1825 Erie Canal finished. 1831 Cyrus McCormick invented the grain reaper. 1837 John Deere manufactures the steel plow. 1843 Sir John Lawes founded the commercial fertilizer industry by developing a process for making superphosphate fertilizer. 1845-1855 Great Potato Famine in Ireland 1850 S.S. Rembert and J. Prescott developed a mechanical cotton picking machine. 1854 Development of the modern windmill. 1855 Michigan and Pennsylvania established the first state agricultural colleges. 1856 A patent for condensing milk was issued to Gail Borden. 1858 Mason jars, used for home canning, were invented. Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) 1862 (a) President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation creating the first Department of Agriculture and signs the Morrill Land Grant College Act. 1862(b) Homestead Act gives 160 acres to settlers who will farm the land for five years. 1861 Pasteurization invented. 1867 Barbed wire invented. Cattle boom. Range wars break out between ranchers and farmers. 1869 Transcontinental railroad completed. Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900) 1870 Refrigerator railroad car patented. 1881 Hybridized corn produced. 1887 The Hatch Experiment Station Act was passed, providing federal grants to states for agricultural experimentation. Growing a Nation 8

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Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930) 1888 The first long haul shipment of a refrigerated freight car was made from California to New York. 1892 The gasoline tractor was built by John Froelich. 1900 Special work projects for farm youth were organized in Illinois; the name â&#x20AC;&#x153;4-Hâ&#x20AC;? was adopted in 1913. 1902 The Reclamation Act was passed, leading to water projects for irrigation. 1906 The Pure Food and Drug Law was enacted. 1908 First electric milking machine patented. 1914 Establishment of the federal-state extension service was a major step in direct education for farmers. 1920 Agriculture prices collapse. 1929

Stock Market Crashes, beginning of The Great Depression.

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Chronological Event Strips Era 1: Three Worlds Meet (Beginnings to 1629) Columbus introduces goats, sheep, pigs, hens, fruit, and old world vegetable seeds.

Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)

English colonists plant grain, potatoes, pumpkins, and melons.

Indians teach Jamestown settlers how to grow corn.

Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s) U.S. Ambassador Ben Franklin sends soybean seeds back from France.

George Washington breeds the first mules in the U.S.

Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin. Thomas Jefferson invented the moldboard plow.

Whiskey Rebellion: Western farmers revolt against a grain tax.

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Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) Louisiana Purchase, a port for American farmers.

Cotton replaces tobacco as the main crop in the south.

Beginning of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Industrial Revolution.â&#x20AC;?

U.S. canning industry started.

Erie Canal finished.

Cyrus McCormick invented the grain reaper.

John Deere manufactures steel plow.

Sir John Laws founded the commercial fertilizer industry by developing a process for making superphosphate fertilizer. Rembert & Prescott developed a mechanical cotton picking machine.

Mason jars, used for home canning. Growing a Nation 11

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Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) President Lincoln creates the first Department of Agriculture and the Morrill Land Grant College Act.

Homestead Act gives 160 acres to settlers who will farm the land for five years.

Pasteurization invented.

Barbed wire invented.

Transcontinental railroad completed.

Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

Refrigerator railroad car patented.

Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

The gasoline tractor was built by John Forelich.

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Rank Year/ Event Families & Science & Education Community Technology Era 1: Three Worlds Meet (beginnings to 1629) 1493 - Columbus introduces goats, sheep, pigs, hens, fruit, and Old World vegetable seeds Era 2: Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763) 1607 - English colonists in Jamestown, VA, planted grain, potatoes, pumpkins, melon, cotton, oranges, and pineapples. 1609 - Indians taught the Jamestown settlers to grow corn. Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s) 1780 - U.S. Ambassador Ben Franklin sends soybean seeds back from France. 1786 - George Washington breeds the first mules in the U.S. 1790 - Total population: 3,929,214; farmers 90% of labor force; U.S. area settled extends westward on average of 255 miles; parts of the frontier cross the Appalachians. 1793 - Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, patent 1794 Thomas Jefferson invented a moldboard for the plow. 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion: Western farmers revolt against a grain tax. Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861) 1803 - Louisiana Purchase, a port for American farmers. 1805 - Cotton replaces tobacco as the main crop in the South. 1807 - Steamboats come into use. 1810 - Beginning of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Industrial Revolutionâ&#x20AC;? 1819 - U.S. canning industry started. 1825 - Erie Canal finished. 1831 - Cyrus McCormick invented the grain reaper. 1837 - John Deere manufactures the steel plow. 1843 - Sir John Lawes founded the commercial fertilizer industry by developing a process for making superphosphate. 1845 - 1855 - Great Potato Famine in Ireland

Economy, Business, Trade

Labor or Legislation Workforce or Laws

Using the Significant Agricultural Events Timeline data sheet, determine which of the following events (by year) has affected the various components of our society. One event may affect several categories. After you have checked off the categories, rank what you think were the top ten events that had the most impact on our society.

Growing a Nation Lesson 1: Significant Agricultural Events Affecting Our American Society Activity Sheet

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Rank Year/ Event Families & Science & Education Community Technology 1855 - Michigan and Pennsylvania established the first state agricultural colleges. 1856 - A patent for condensing milk was issued to Gail Borden. 1858 - Mason Jars, used for home canning, were invented. Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877) 1861 - Pasteurization invented. 1862(a) - President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation creating the first Department of Agriculture and signs the Morrill Land Grant College Act. 1862(b) - Homestead Act gives 160 acres to settlers who will farm the land for five years. 1867 - Barbed wire invented. Cattle boom. Range wars break out between ranchers and farmers. 1869 - Transcontinental railroad completed. Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900) 1870 - Refrigerator railroad car patented. 1881 - Hybridized corn produced. 1887 - The Hatch Experiment Station Act was passed, providing federal grants to states for agricultural experimentation. Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930) 1888 - The first long haul shipment of a refrigerated freight car was made from California to New York. 1892 - The gasoline tractor was built by John Froelich. 1900 - Special work projects for farm youth were organized in Illinois; the name â&#x20AC;&#x153;4-Hâ&#x20AC;? was adopted in 1913. 1902 - The Reclamation Act was passed, leading to water projects for irrigation. 1906 - The Pure Food and Drug Law was enacted. 1908 - First electric milking machine patented. 1914 - Establishment of the federal-state extension service was a major step in direct education for farmers. 1920 - Agriculture prices collapse.

Economy, Labor or Legislation Business, Workforce or Laws Trade

From Defeat to Victory, Lesson 2: 1930–1949 Materials  Growing a Nation multimedia program, agclassroom.org/gan, and necessary projection equipment or computer lab  Embedded Resource Cards  Photo Analysis Activity Sheets (Appendix 3) Activity 1: Embedded Resource After students view selected slides, assign each student or group of students an Embedded Resource Card (Appendix 2) and ask them to be prepared to answer the Embedded Resource questions either by direct response or by using one of the Teaching and Learning Strategies outlined in Appendix 2. You may want to assign a particular strategy or cut the strategies into strips and ask each student to pick one or two. If the student or group of students is allowed to pick two, ask them to choose the learning strategy they prefer and put the other one back. The embedded resources that pop up on each Growing a Nation screen are designed to be adaptable to a variety of teaching strategies and flexible for diverse learning styles. Each slide contains five or six embedded resources that detail events in American history that can be explored for a greater understanding of the time period or historical cause and effect relationships. Each embedded resource asks higher order questions to not only increase student knowledge but to increase their comprehension to the level of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives). The Teaching and Learning Strategies in Appendix 2 can be applied to nearly all the embedded resources in addition to students answering the embedded resource questions. Activity 2: Dust Bowl Impact Background The ballads of Woody Guthrie, the novels of John Steinbeck and the WPA photographs of artists such as Dorothea Lange have embedded images of the Dust Bowl in the American consciousness. Introduce this dramatic era in our nation’s history to today’s students through photographs, songs and interviews with people who lived through the Dust Bowl. Help your students understand the problems Americans were facing during the Great Depression. Students learn from their textbooks what caused the Dust Bowl and where the Dust Bowl occurred, but to better understand the impact of this environmental disaster, students need to use a variety of primary source documents from this time period.

National Standards Explored National Standards for Eras 7 and 8 are investigated in this lesson. To view the correlated Standards and the student understanding of each Standard visit agclassroom.org/gan.

Era 7: Standard 3B The student understands how a modern capitalist economy emerged in the 1920s.

Era 8: Standard 1B The student understands how American life changed during the 1930s.

Era 8: Standard 2A The student understands the New Deal and the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Era 8: Standard 2C The student understands opposition to the New Deal, the alternative programs of its detractors, and the legacy of the New Deal.

Enduring Understanding The significant events throughout American agricultural history that have changed American society and the lives of her citizens.

Essential Questions: • What was the cause of the Dust Bowl? • How did the Dust Bowl and agriculture contribute to The Great Depression? • How did the Dust Bowl impact the environment? • What was government’s response to help farmers during the 1930s? • What ended The Great Depression?

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This lesson uses the resources from the American Experience PBS website Surviving the Dust Bowl. The resources on the site allow students to explore the Dust Bowl through photographs, songs (lyrics), interviews, and other archival documents from the Dust Bowl era. Primary Source Analysis 1. Assign each student to listen to or read one of the interview transcripts from J.R. Davison, Imogene Glover, or Melt White on the PBS Surviving the Dust Bowl website (pbs.org/wgbh/ americanexperience/films/dustbowl). Each student should complete either the Sound Recording Analysis Activity Sheet (if they listen to the interview) or the Written Document Analysis Activity Sheet (if they read the transcript). Both activity sheets can be found in Appendix 3. 2. In addition, the “Eyewitness Account” and primary resource of Lawrence Svobida (pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/ photo-gallery/dustbowl) could be used with the Written Document Analysis Activity Sheet. 3. As a class listen to or view one or more of the following radio broadcasts or films: (These are engaging, dramatic primary sources. You may want to explain to students that radio was the state-of-theart media of the time!) • Fireside Chat 8, The Drought and The Dust Bowl, 1936 (27 minutes) • The Westward Movement and Resettlement, 1936 (15 minutes) • What Price America? Taylor Grazing Act, 1939 (30 minutes) • Food to Win the War, circa 1941 (3 minutes) Students could complete the Sound Recording or Motion Picture Analysis Activity Sheets in Appendix 3 or note the three most significant concepts they hear. Discuss the concepts and issues raised in each radio or film program. The audio and movie files can be downloaded or streamed from the Classroom Resources section of the Growing a Nation website.

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Student Individual or Group Projects • Listen to an interview with Mrs. Flora Robertson about dust storms in Oklahoma americaslibrary.gov/es/ok/es_ok_dustbowl_1.html and complete a Sound Recording Analysis Activity Sheet. • Visit this website pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl and then select two historical figures or two events or one historical figure and one event and create a Venn diagram after you read your selection. The Venn diagram should note each point of view or event content that the people or event do not have in common in the outside of the circles. Do the viewpoints or events have anything in common? If so, place these commonalities in the place where the circles overlap. Present your historical character or event and your diagram to the class. • Using the timeline pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/dustbowl note the things the government did to help people out during the Dust Bowl. Which two or three do you think had the most impact? • Consider creating or have the student create a WebQuest on the Dust Bowl using these websites: Library of Congress: memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html Library of Congress- American Memory, memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html. Search “dust bowl”. PBS Surviving the Dust Bowl: pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl Google, google.com. Search “dust bowl”

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Prosperity & Challenges, Lesson 3: 1950–1969 Materials  Growing a Nation multimedia program, agclassroom.org/gan, and necessary projection equipment or computer lab  Embedded Resource Cards  Farm Facts booklets from: fb.org/index.php?action=ordermaterials

National Standards Explored

Background: Labor and Technological Change An advance in technology (the application of scientific knowledge) has had monumental effects on the way we live today, taking us from hunters and gatherers to the space age and beyond. Agriculture was adopted over hunting and gathering as it more efficiently met our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Technological inventions and the understanding of more complex scientific knowledge catapulted western civilization and changed how we live today. The 1950s saw the complete mechanization of agriculture. In 1954 the number of tractors on farms exceeded the number of horses and mules for first time. Increased numbers of automobiles also impacted American society and left a mark on how Americans consume food, namely drive-in and drive-through restaurants and the resulting “fast food.” From the farm to the fork, “new” or “modern” conveniences such as refrigeration, food processing factories, and frozen foods–including TV dinners—changed the way Americans produced, prepared, and consumed food.

How the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed the American people.

National Standards for Eras 6-10. To view the correlated Standards and the student understanding of each Standard visit agclassroom.org/gan.

Era 6, Standard 1

Era 9, Standard 1 The economic boom and social transformation of postwar United States.

Era 10, Standard 2 Economic, social, and cultural developments in contemporary United States.

Enduring Understanding The significant events throughout American agricultural history that have changed American society and the lives of her citizens.

Essential Questions: Activity 1: Embedded Resource After students view selected slides, assign each student or group of students an Embedded Resource Card (Appendix 2) and ask them to be prepared to answer the Embedded Resource questions either by direct response or by using one of the Teaching and Learning Strategies outlined in Appendix 2. You may want to assign a particular strategy or cut the strategies into strips and ask each student to pick one or two. If the student or group of students is allowed to pick two, ask them to choose the learning strategy they prefer and put the other one back. The embedded resources that pop up on each Growing a Nation screen are designed to be adaptable to a variety of teaching strategies and flexible for diverse learning styles. Each slide contains five or six embedded resources that detail events in American history that can be explored for a greater understanding of the time period or historical cause and effect relationships. Each embedded resource Growing a Nation 18

More than 90% of America’s population farmed 200 years ago. There were about 5 million Americans then. Today less than 2% of the American population works on farms; that’s about 5 million producers. Our population of about 300 million today has plenty of food. • How has America fed itself and much of the world? • What has happened in the last 200 years to reduce farm labor and increase production? • How has agriculture made it possible for Americans to pursue their hopes and dreams? agclassroom.org/gan

asks higher order questions to not only increase student knowledge but to increase their comprehension to the level of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives). The Teaching and Learning Strategies in Appendix 2 can be applied to nearly all the embedded resources in addition to students answering the embedded resource questions. Activity 2: Timeline – Inventions in Farm Machinery and Technology As a class, review the “Farm Machinery and Technology” category of the Growing a Nation historical timeline found on the website, agclassroom.org/gan, noting the production numbers and labor hours required to produce wheat and corn from 1830-2000. Together the class is going to create a cause and effect timeline. Use a strip of masking tape or crepe paper to create the timeline on one of the classroom walls. Add decade markers, spaced appropriately. Assign each student or group of students a decade between 1800 and 2000 from the “Farm Machinery and Technology” category. (There are 15 decades, so depending on your class size you may have 3 students to a group.) Each student or group of students should identify the events in their decade and evaluate the item as a cause or effect contributing to the increase in production or decrease in labor. Ask students to create a pamphlet by folding a sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" paper in half (lengthwise). On the top front page, students should glue or tape a picture from the Growing a Nation photo gallery or from other websites to identify the event, then below the picture write the title of the cause or effect event. These “pamphlets” will be used on the timeline. If they have more than one event in their assigned decade, they should create a separate sheet for each. On the inside, students should write down whether the event is a “cause” or an “effect” related to the increase in production or the decrease in labor. If the event is a cause, ask students to find the effect; if the event is an effect, ask students to find the cause, even if they have to look in different decades. Students may also look at other categories on the timeline or in their textbook to help them determine causes or effects. For example, were other things going on in the 1950s in the other categories (Economic cycles, Land, Crop and Livestock, Transportation, Trade, Life on the Farm Organizations, Agricultural Education and Extension, or Government Programs and Policy) that had a cause or effect relationship to the event? If so, they should identify them on the inside of the pamphlet. Once the pamphlets are completed, ask students to present their event and then paste the event onto the timeline in the appropriate decade.

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Activity 3: Event or Invention Project Ask students to select an event or invention from the Growing a Nation timeline and then research the event or invention and create a PowerPoint slide show or advertisement flyer/poster about the event and present this project to the class. The presentation should include important statistics, highlights, graphs and or pictures. For example students could graph the number of people fed by farmers in 1940 (19), 1950 (27), 1960, (46), in 1970 (73), 1980 (115), 1990 (129), 2006 (144). The Farm Facts booklet noted in the Materials list would be useful for this activity. Activity 4: Primary Source Analysis As a class, download or stream the following films from the Classroom Resources of the Growing a Nation website and compare and contrast what each Secretary of Agriculture is saying: • Secretary Benson Speaks, 1955 (4 minutes). Created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson gives a New Year’s Day address concerning the future of agriculture. • Secretary Freeman Talks on Food and Fibers, 1968 (3 minutes). As part of President Johnson’s “War on Hunger,” Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman addresses the issue of hunger and raises questions about who America could or should feed and how hunger can be ended. Students could complete the Motion Picture Analysis Activity Sheet in Appendix 3 or note the three most significant concepts they hear. Discuss the concepts and issues raised in each film. Activity 5: State Statistics Investigate your state’s agriculture. What do you know about farming in your state? Visit this website nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/index.asp and learn about your state’s top agricultural products and much more. How does your state’s agriculture contribute to the state’s economy? Useful Websites iol.ie/~manister/tractortrouble/tractorx3.html tractorrace.com/tractorhistory.htm froelichtractor.com/thetractor.html steamshow.org/Steam_Info/overview.htm

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Into a New Millennium, Lesson 4: 1970–Present Materials  Growing a Nation multimedia program, agclassroom.org/gan, and necessary projection equipment or computer lab  Embedded Resource Cards  Farm Facts booklets from: fb.org/index.php?action=ordermaterials  Activity Sheets Background: Environment and Economics Two Standards form Era 10 of the National United States History Standards related to agriculture, the environment and economics. Lesson 4 of the Growing a Nation program also focuses on this area. The Embedded Resources, discussed in Activity 1, provide an overview of Standards 1 and 2 concerning the environment, energy and economy of the United States. The “conservation movement” promoted by Teddy Roosevelt, Jon Muir (naturalist, preservationist), and Gifford Pinchot (conservationist, head of U.S. Forest Service) in the early 20th Century gave way to the “environmental movement” punctuated by Rachel Carson in the 1960s and continues on through environmental activism of the 21st Century. Evaluating the effectiveness of presidential administrations and how they have addressed social and environmental issues is at the core of Standard 1A. In voting for a president, Americans learn about the candidate’s environmental positions and may need to sort through environmental “facts” and “opinions.” Teddy Roosevelt condemned the view that America’s resources were endless and made conservation a primary concern. Roosevelt, Pinchot and most Progressives believed in using experts and scientific and technical information to solve problems. For Roosevelt conservation meant that some wilderness area would be preserved while others would be developed for the common good. Carson’s book resulted in the Water Quality Act of 1965. President Johnson said that “There is no excuse. . .for chemical companies and oil refineries using our major rivers as pipelines for toxic wastes.” In 1970, President Nixon consolidated 15 existing federal pollution programs into the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the 1980s, the environmental movement began to struggle with the balance between the environment, jobs, and progress. Activity 2 uses critical thinking to help students examine an issue, risks, and how decisions are made. Activity 3 focuses on U.S. production, exports, and imports as they relate to international

National Standards Explored National Standards for Era 10. To view the correlated Standards and the student understanding of each Standard visit agclassroom.org/gan.

Era 10, Standard 1 • Evaluate the effectiveness of the administrations in addressing social and environmental issues. • Describe agricultural innovation and consolidation in the postwar period and assess their impact on the world economy.

Era 10, Standard 2 • Evaluate how scientific advances and technological changes affect the economy and the nature of work. • Assess the effects of international trade, transnational business organization, and overseas competition on the economy.

Enduring Understanding The significant events throughout American agricultural history that have changed American society and the lives of her citizens.

Essential Questions: • Does America need to farm in the 21st Century? • Who supports the 2% who grow products on farms and then ensure a finished product arrives as food, clothes, shelter, or energy? (Another 9% of the population in the role of scientists, specialists, processors, business professionals, etc.) • Who will be the next generation of farmers, agricultural scientists and agricultural educators? • What is sovereignty as it relates to America’s food and energy supplies?

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trade and economic trends. Students will analyze how issues such as national security, sovereignty, overseas competition, and environmental concerns affect the U.S. economy. Activity 1: Embedded Resource After students view selected slides, assign each student or group of students an Embedded Resource Card (Appendix 2) and ask them to be prepared to answer the Embedded Resource questions either by direct response or by using one of the Teaching and Learning Strategies outlined in Appendix 2. You may want to assign a particular strategy or cut the strategies into strips and ask each student to pick one or two. If the student or group of students is allowed to pick two, ask them to choose the learning strategy they prefer and put the other one back. The embedded resources that pop up on each Growing a Nation screen are designed to be adaptable to a variety of teaching strategies and flexible for diverse learning styles. Each slide contains five or six embedded resources that detail events in American history that can be explored for a greater understanding of the time period or historical cause and effect relationships. Each embedded resource asks higher order questions to not only increase student knowledge but to increase their comprehension to the level of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation (Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives). The Teaching and Learning Strategies in Appendix 2 can be applied to nearly all the embedded resources in addition to students answering the embedded resource questions. Activity 2: Should this Product be Banned? Relate the following to the class: A high school freshman doing a science project asked 50 people if they would sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical “dihydrogen monoxide” because it: • can cause excessive sweating and vomiting, • is a major component of acid rain, • can cause severe burns in its gaseous state, • can kill if aspirated, • contributes to erosion, • decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes, and • has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients. Forty-three of the people surveyed said they would sign the petition, six were undecided, and one said “no.” Yet, if the student had called dihydrogen monoxide by its common name (water), the results would have been a unanimous “no.” Perception and context are critical to good judgment. Most issues require an examination of

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validity, context, and trade-offs. Review with students the following: Validity: Was the research conducted properly and are the conclusions easy to understand? Is the disclosed information true? Has the research been replicated? Has the research been published and peer-reviewed? Context: How is this data used? Is the whole picture being provided? What other factors or variables were left out of the research? Trade-offs: Are the solutions worse than the problem? We get in our cars knowing there is a risk that we might be involved in an accident. We ingest tons of chemicals in the form of prescription drugs. Society often looks for a safety guarantee when, in fact, nothing we do is risk-free. We can do certain things to minimize risks. We can wear seat belts and drive defensively. We can take medicine only when we absolutely need it. But, even with these measures, we realize that nothing is 100% safe. Risk is the chance of injury, damage, or loss; the degree or probability of loss; the act of exposing oneself to a risk or taking a chance. Scientists and government officials usually address risk in terms of probability for populations, not individuals. The scientific classification for risk may range from low to high to absolute. However, individuals often associate the word “risk” with “danger” instead of “probability”. As in other sectors, the science-based processes of risk assessment and management help determine reasonable agricultural and environmental risk levels. These processes measure and characterize risk, estimate the probability of occurrence, and predict the nature and magnitude of potential adverse effects. For example, scientists may assess various risk factors from pesticide residues in or on the foods people buy and develop management strategies to control residues. Risk managers integrate social, economic, and political factors into risk assessment results. Ask students to work in small groups to identify the product in question and to do a risk/benefit analysis to reach a reasonable conclusion about whether the product should be banned. The product: • contains a chemical that causes cancer in laboratory animals. • causes serious injury to millions of people. • kills 40,000 people a year. • kills millions of animals a year. • causes fires when ignited. • requires tremendous resources for production. • causes major air pollution problems. Growing a Nation 23

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• produces toxic gases. • causes billions of dollars in property damage every year. • destroys millions of acres of land for roads to facilitate it. Ask each group to discuss its analytical process and conclusion with the entire class. The product referred to is an automobile, and its risks are an acceptable part of American life because individuals believe they have control over the risks and because there often is not an acceptable alternative to the automobile. This is the type of critical thinking that needs to be used when looking at all kinds of issues. Source: Masalski, E. & Maston McMurray, L. (2004). Agricultural & environmental issues. In E. A. Wolanyk & L. Wink (Eds.), Agriculture & the environment (pp. 2-4). Washington, D.C.: American Farm Bureau Foundation.

Activity 3: International Trade, Interdependence, & Sovereignty Ask the students if they or their families have ever purchased a product made in a different country. Encourage discussion by mentioning the brand names of various products such as Volkswagen (Germany), Sony (Japan), Toyota (Japan), Nintendo (Japan), Panasonic (Japan), Hyundai (South Korea), Adidas (Taiwan), Nokia (Finland), Barilla (pasta, Italy), Nestlé (Switzerland). Ask students to name American brand names; examples include: Levi’s, Microsoft, Google, McDonald’s, Heinz, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Ford, and many more. Although these companies and their associated brand names are owned or operated in a particular country, each has substantial interest in the economy of one another. The products they produce may also require raw ingredients or inputs from each other or other countries around the globe. This is what is meant by the “global market” or “globalization.” As a homework assignment, ask each student to complete the “Household Survey Activity Sheet.” When the class has completed the survey, make a chart on the whiteboard or overhead giving names of the countries and names of the brands. Ask the students to think about the results of the survey. Were they surprised by the number of products they found in their homes from other countries? Share the overheads “Where Your Food Dollar Goes,” “American Agriculture’s Share of World Production,” “What We Sell to the World. . . What We Buy from Other Nations,” and “Our Top Foreign Markets.” Use the World Map transparency and colored markers to indicate from what countries or states their families have products. Connect the dots from the countries or states to the state where the students reside. Do the students see any trends? Electronics, automobiles, food? Discuss with students that some countries specialize in producing goods at a price Americans are willing Growing a Nation 24

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to pay. The U.S. government has trade agreements with many countries, but not with all. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international, multilateral organization which sets the rules for the global trading system and resolves disputes between its member states, all of whom are signatories to its approximately 30 agreements. As closure for this activity, ask students to create a concept map selecting one household item on their survey and then make the connections that product has to other resources, businesses, and careers. Can the student trace the product back to the farm or another natural resource such as oil (plastic)? Does the productâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s principle ingredient come from another country? You may want students to identify the location where the connections on their concept webs occur. Finally, as a class, discuss the Essential Questions noted on the first page of this lesson. Transparency Graphic Source: American Farm Bureau Federation. (2011). Farm Facts. (Publication No. PRFFBK11-001-001). Washington, D.C.: Author.

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Household Survey Directions: Use this chart as you search for products in your home. In the columns provided, write the brand name of the product and the country it came from. Identify the item you surveyed in the blanks. Electronics/Appliances

Brand Name

Country

1. Television 2. Radio 3. MP3 Player 4. Toaster 5. Microwave 6. 7. 8. Clothing 1. Shoes, athletic 2. Shirt 3. 4. 5. Transportation 1. Car 2. Bicycle 3. 4. Food 1. Milk 2. Cereal 3. Cheese 4. Canned item 1: 5. Canned item 2: 6. Bread 7. Fruit item:

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Where Your Food Dollar Goes

16¢ FARM

84¢ OFF-FARM

Farmers and Ranchers receive about 16 cents out of every dollar. In 1980 farmers received 31 cents out of every dollar spent on food in America. Here is the breakdown of where the 16 cents goes:

Off-Farm costs: marketing expenses associated with processing, wholesaling, distributing and retailing of food products account for 84 cents of every dollar spent on food.

• Purchased feed.................................15.8% • Fertilizer, seed, & crop-protecting chemicals.........................................15.1% • Capital upkeep & replacement.......10.3% • Farm labor........................................10.0% • Interest & property taxes..................9.4% • Fuel & electricity................................7.1% • Purchased livestock............................6.9% • Farm services.....................................5.0% • Repairs & maintenance ...................5.2% • Rent ..................................................3.6% • Miscellaneous..................................11.6% Reprinted with permission from American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (2010 Data)

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American Agricultureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Share of World Production Beef and Veal 21% Soybeans 35% Cotton 12% Corn 41%

Eggs 8%

Milk 17% Wheat 9% Reprinted with permission from American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (2010 Data)

Agricultural Exports Contribute to the U.S. Economy Tapping the world market. . . About 23% of all U.S. agricultural products ($115.8 billion dollars worth) are exported yearly, including:

116 million tons of grains and feed 3 million tons of poultry meats 2 million tons of fresh vegetables

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What We Sell to the World. . . What We Buy from Other Nations U.S. Ag Exports= $115.8 billion Top Exports (billions)

U.S. Ag Imports=81.9 billion Top Imports (billions)

Beef, Veal, Pork & Poultry...................$18.6

Fresh & Processed Vegetables.................$9.3

Soybeans...............................................$18.5

Fresh & Processed Fruits........................$9.2

Fresh & Processed Fruits &Veggies.....$10.6

Coffee & Cocoa......................................$9.2

Corn.......................................................$9.8

Grains & Feeds.......................................$7.8

Wheat.....................................................$6.7

Wine & Malt Beverages..........................$7.8

Feeds and Fodder...................................$5.6

Beef, Veal & Pork...................................$7.0

Tree Nuts ...............................................$4.8 Dairy Products........................................$3.7 Rice.........................................................$2.3

The United States sells more food and fiber (fabric) to the world markets than we import, creating a positive agricultural trade balance. Agriculture is one of the few U.S. industries that enjoys a positive trade balance. When we move more commodities into more markets, both commodity prices and farm incomes tend to rise.

Reprinted with permission from American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (2010 Data)

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Our Top Foreign Markets In 2010 $115.8 billion worth of American agricultural products were exported around the globe. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Top 5â&#x20AC;? countries that imported U.S. ag products (red) accounted for 60% of all US agricultural exports. Country / Sales in Billions Russian Federation $1.9 Canada $16.9 Japan $11.8 Mexico $14.6 European Union $8.9 China $17.5 South Korea 5.3 Taiwan $3.2 Indonesia $2.2 Egypt $2.2

China and Canada are the largest trading partners of the U.S. Together, they account for more than on-third of all U.S. agricultural exports. Reprinted with permission from American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture (2010 Data)

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Appendix 1

Narratives Lesson 1: 1600–1929

Seeds of Change

Lesson 2: 1930–1949

From Defeat to Victory

Lesson 3: 1950–1969

Prosperity & Challenges

Lesson 4: 1970–Present Into a New Millennium

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Lesson 1: 1600–1929 Seeds of Change Narrative Screen 1: A Life of Possibilities Imagine you are on a journey to America, leaving behind everything you have known for untold dangers ahead. You are willing to take the risk because you want to start a new life where you will be free to work hard on your own land. The New World means a new life—a life of possibilities. Across the Atlantic Ocean, in America, historic events are shaping an exciting way of life for common citizens of the United States. Vast, rich lands set the stage for people to make their dreams a reality. Their hard work earns them cash, free time, and a life beyond basic needs. Their system of government is the foundation for this prosperity; established through the good fortune of free, plentiful land and a century long experiment in democracy. How did the practices of this new kind of government support a revolution in agricultural science, technology, and education? How did agriculture help the United States of America become a prosperous, thriving nation and major world power? Consider the answers to these questions as you enjoy; “Growing a Nation: the Story of American Agriculture.” Screen 2: Experiences in the New World The first European settlers in America quickly learned that they had to adapt or starve. During the winter of 1609 to 1610, two-thirds of the settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America died. Native Americans taught the survivors how to grow corn, pumpkin and squash. Corn and beans were planted together in small mounds so the bean vines could grow up along the cornstalks. The beans also added nitrogen to the soil. Pumpkins and other kinds of squash were planted between the mounds. Seeds were saved for the next year’s crop. Another Indian-grown plant, tobacco, became the primary cash crop of colonial America. Eventually, through trial and error, the settlers were also able to adapt European crops to the New World. As the English gained control of America, their merchants sought new markets for colony crops. However, the British government imposed heavy duties on many agricultural products from the colonies and limited the export of more valuable products like tobacco, indigo, wheat and livestock. These restrictions created resentment among the Colonists and were a major cause of the American Revolution. Screen 3: A Revolution in the Country Many of the leaders of the American Revolution, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were farmers. Both Washington and Jefferson were interested in experimenting with agriculture. At his Mount Vernon, Virginia farm, George Washington experimented with crop rotation and with new seeds and plants. He also became the Nation’s first mule breeder, using animals given to him by the king of Spain. Thomas Jefferson also enjoyed experimenting with agriculture on his Virginia estate at Monticello. Both Washington and Jefferson helped organize societies for improving agriculture. These societies were pioneers in agricultural science and education. Some societies issued reports, published journals, and sponsored agricultural fairs to encourage agricultural improvement. Early Americans were self-sufficient; ninety-three percent of them were farmers, and free land, rich soil, and a temperate climate helped them do well. Farmers began to use horsepower to pull newly invented farm implements like the broadcast seeder and the mechanized grain reaper. These implements improved working conditions for farmers and provided more cash so that they could enjoy a better standard of living. Immigrants came to America in droves, exchanging their own indentured labor for passage to seemingly limitless American freedom, land, and opportunity. Growing a Nation 33

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Screen 4: A Nation Divided By the 1800s the Northern states began to industrialize and export manufactured goods. With room to grow and resources to spare the United States government invested in exploration, opening new territories to farmers and ranchers. Technology was employed to develop transportation systems that brought produce and people together in a national market system. As the Northern states industrialized they attracted new immigrants while the South’s population stagnated. In 1800 half of all Americans lived in the South, but by 1850 only one-third of the population was there. The Southern economy relied on producing and exporting cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco and wheat. The South also depended heavily on food imported from the upper-Mississippi valley. Production of work intensive cash crops like cotton and tobacco expanded and the Southern economy became increasingly dependent on slave labor to keep the price of its crops competitive. Technological improvements like Eli Whitney’s cotton gin also helped increase cotton production and made slavery profitable. The slave-dependent Southern agricultural system worked only for a time. From 1861 to 1865, Americans fought a chaotic Civil War. For the South the war was a struggle to preserve their economy and way of life; for the North it was a struggle to preserve the Union and end slavery. Before the war sixty percent of Americans farmed, but when the war began large numbers of farmers left to fight so their land went untended. When peace was finally declared, many of the South’s farms lay in ruin. Screen 5: The United States Department of Agriculture In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln created the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA. The “people’s department”, as Lincoln called it, was created to “acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected to agriculture.” That year the Morrill Act also gave each state thirty thousand acres of public land per seat held in Congress, to help build and maintain agricultural colleges. The Hatch Act of 1887 granted additional lands and funds to universities for agricultural research and experimentation. In 1890, a second Morrill Act funded black agricultural colleges. Government support of science, technology, and education to improve agriculture gave American farmers an edge over the rest of the world. Research into new varieties of foodstuffs (such as navel oranges for California and sugar beets for the Midwest), the introduction of early organic insecticides, and fertilizer testing programs were a few of the early USDA projects undertaken to improve agriculture and life in America. As the USDA shared its discoveries with the American public the landscape began to change. Farmers returning to their crops and livestock from agricultural science schools and agricultural demonstration and extension programs began experimenting with new techniques to improve production. Screen 6: Rebuilding the South The Civil War destroyed much of the South and its plantations. More dramatically, four million slaves were suddenly freed with no land, no money and little opportunity. A tenant farming system called ‘sharecropping’ evolved in the South to make use of cheap labor. Sharecropping employed ex-slaves and other poor workers to farm the cotton and tobacco fields of landowners in exchange for part of the harvest. This system persisted for decades, even though sharecroppers were frequently cheated and exploited. Men like Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver worked to improve the lives of former slaves as well as all Southern farmers. Booker T. Washington believed that education was the way to true emancipation. He became the first head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which emphasized agricultural and industrial training for African Americans. George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist who headed the agricultural department at Tuskegee. Carver taught his students how to conserve the soil by diversifying and rotating crops. Carver traveled by wagon demonstrating better farming methods to black farmers. He introduced profitable new crops for Southern farmers to grow in place of cotton. He also developed new varieties of peanuts and discovered new uses for peanuts, giving the South a whole new industry. The United States Department of Agriculture later adopted Carver’s demonstration methods, bringing research directly to farmers when it created the Extension Service.

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Screen 7: Westward Expansion In 1870 nearly half of all Americans worked as agricultural laborers and more than three-fourths of America’s exports were agricultural goods. Westward expansion pushed the agricultural frontier onto the Great Plains. The Homestead Act offered 160 acres of free land to settlers who would farm it for five years, making the Great Plains a land of opportunity. Homesteaders rushed to fill the open lands. Homesteading also brought fresh waves of immigrants in pursuit of their dreams. The Great Plains soon became America’s breadbasket, the rich soil yielding bountiful harvests of wheat and corn. The United States Department of Agriculture guided and aided much of the nation’s agricultural progress during the decades of expansion. It sought out the world’s best scientists and engineers; men like Seaman Knapp, who researched and promoted crop rotation and Wilbur Atwater, who started the science of human nutrition. As the USDA collected, analyzed, and published vast amounts of scientific information the frontiers of science and technology were pushed along with the borders of the expanding nation. Screen 8: Science and Technology for Expansion The westward expansion of railroads to the Pacific Ocean was extremely important to the growth and development of agriculture. Railroads carried settlers and made it possible for ranchers and farmers in the west to sell whatever they could produce. Increases in farm production throughout most of the nation’s history had come mainly from the development of new land, but by the late 1800s poor farming practices had depleted nutrients in the soil – and agricultural production and quality began to decline. Previously, farmers had just plowed up new land when this happened, but now they began to push for scientific knowledge to improve agriculture. While most farmers had little understanding of the proper treatment of soil or plants, scientists were making new discoveries that would revolutionize agriculture. Farmers began to form organizations to fight for their interests, improve rural life, and increase agricultural education for their members. The 1887 Hatch Act established agricultural experiment stations in connection with the Land Grant Universities in each state. The State Agricultural Experiment Stations worked to help farmers find practical solutions to agricultural problems. Screen 9: Early Agricultural Science and Research Increasing mechanization continued to improve the productivity of American farmers. Scientists also discovered new crops for American farmers to grow and developed new breeds of livestock to provide more meat, milk, eggs and wool. Consumers became aware of food safety and quality and demanded that the government take action to regulate food. Scientists also found new ways to fight animal and plant diseases. In 1890, USDA scientists proved for the first time that a disease-producing organism could be spread between animals by a carrier. This groundbreaking discovery led to the development of control measures to combat many other diseases carried by insects that affected animals as well as people, including malaria, typhus, yellow fever and bubonic plague. USDA scientists also had major success using a predator insect to control an agricultural pest that was ruining California’s citrus industry. The Vedalia Beetle was brought into California to control the Cottony-cushion scale insect. The outstanding success of this project led to more research and efforts using predator insects. By the end of the 1800s, many new discoveries were changing the way Americans farmed. One of the most important scientific advances of this period was the discovery that plants could be selectively bred for disease resistance. The principle of selective breeding expanded to encompass other desirable traits such as drought resistance, plant quality and nutrition. Screen 10: A New Century For Agriculture By 1900 industrial technology had brought widespread improvements to farmers. Dams supplied irrigation water to dry land and USDA scientists introduced American farmers to new plants, including nectarines from Afghanistan, broccoli and seedless raisin grapes from Italy and a new avocado from Chile - greatly expanding what American farmers could grow and what ordinary Americans could enjoy at the table. Growing a Nation 35

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Foreign demand for Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food surplus increased and Europe became Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest customer. In 1906 Congress passed the Pure Food & Drug Act. This legislation required the USDA to inspect the cleanliness of agricultural goods. Higher standards for production improved foreign trade and benefited ordinary Americans by providing improved food quality. As the new century dawned, machines had drastically reduced the amount of manpower required on farms. This increased productivity freed more Americans to pursue new endeavors in industry and in the arts and sciences. Fewer people and less land could now produce the same amount of food. Screen 11: A War Time Boom Europe became engaged in World War I in 1914. Busy fighting, these nations struggled to feed their citizens and soldiers. The US Food Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture urged American farmers and ranchers to step up production to meet increased demand at home and abroad. Agricultural exports soared and farm prices more than doubled. This boom renewed business interest in farming, and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Farm Credit Loan Act to provide long-term loans to farmers. With money for expansion, farmers purchased nearly fifty thousand tractors and put forty million acres of new land into production in 1917. The war effort also saw meat production swell by more than 20 percent. The explosion of agriculture fueled a search for methods to bring more land into production. Agricultural scientists like John Widtsoe developed methods for dry farming that made it possible to grow wheat and hay in arid areas of the United States without irrigation. Screen 12: A Rural Migration Despite recent wartime plenty, during the 1920s the quality of life for many rural households was far lower than for city families. Forty percent of rural homes lacked indoor plumbing or electricity, and many farmers began to envy city life. USDA scientists like Dr. Louise Stanly, Chief of the new Bureau of Home Economics, worked hard to apply scientific solutions to the problems of rural families. These efforts led to numerous programs for improving the nutrition of rural Americans. As Europe recovered from the world war, the wartime market disappeared and created a surplus of products and plummeting prices. Many agricultural producers could not make the payments on loans they had taken out for machinery, land, and seed during the war, and banks began to foreclose on them. A nationwide agricultural depression set in. Over one million farmers had to seek employment in the cities. Unfortunately, the agricultural depression of the 1920s was only the beginning of the Great Depression, a national crisis that would affect all Americans for another decade to come.

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Lesson 2: 1930–1949 From Defeat to Victory Narrative Screen 1: The Crash Lands In 1930 the impact of the stock market crash of October 1929 was beginning to be felt in rural America. The price per bushel for wheat and corn plummeted more than 25 percent in a single year. As the depression continued, prices for almost all agricultural products dropped even further. The number of acres harvested and the yields per acre also fell for many crops during the first years of the depression due to severe flooding in some parts of the country, and widespread drought in others. Arthur M. Hyde, the Secretary of Agriculture, called the drought “the worst . . . ever recorded in this country.” Agriculture was devastated as fields and streams dried up. Even the great Mississippi River was down to historically low levels. Cattle couldn’t be fed, crops failed, money was short, and there was less food on the table. On top of everything else, agricultural exports crashed; reduced a billion dollars a year during the early 1930s. It was almost more than America could bear. During the Great Depression what happened to immigrants and ordinary Americans who had started farms and ranches to accomplish their dreams of a better life in America? How did the Great Depression finally end? What effects did it have on agriculture in America? Consider these questions as you explore, “Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory.” Screen 2: The Struggle to Adapt As America’s economic depression settled on the country, the Hoover administration made efforts to help. A Federal Drought Relief Committee, headed by Secretary of Agriculture Hyde, was established in 1930. The Committee recommended reduced rail rates for hay, feed, and water and increased road and dam construction in drought areas. In 1932 the situation worsened for American farmers and ranchers. The price of a bushel of corn dropped from seventy-six cents in 1929 to twenty-nine cents in 1932; beef prices dropped from ten cents to five cents per pound. Nils A. Olsen, Chief of the USDA Bureau of Agricultural Economics, attributed the falling prices to two things: “The first has its origins in such revolutionary developments as the change from horses to motors,” and the second, farmers were not adjusting to a “wholly new pattern of production and trade.” Farmers lacked the education and skills they needed to understand how the market was working. It was obvious that the “giant” of the countryside needed better training. To remedy the problem, the USDA tried to teach farmers to balance supply with demand. They urged farmers to “readjust” by voluntarily planting less of surplus crops like corn and wheat. The USDA also promoted increased production of less plentiful crops; for instance planting tomatoes a little earlier than normal in order to produce a more abundant crop, which would put more money in farmers pockets. Screen 3: Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself Although farmers and ranchers experimented with new agricultural methods, the economic situation continued to go downhill for rural America during the early 1930s. President Hoover believed that the economy would fix itself in time, but the storm cloud continued to darken. As the summer of 1932 turned toward autumn, the depression deepened. Frustrated and angry, Iowa farmers sponsored a Farmer’s Holiday—a strike designed to keep all farm products off the market. The net income of farmers was less than one-third of what it had been in 1929, which meant they earned a lot less money. In other areas of the country farmers stormed into towns and simply took what they needed off of grocery shelves. Discontent grew so much that farmers gathered from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska and pledged to protect one another’s Growing a Nation 37

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homes, farms, livestock, and machinery from being taken through foreclosure. Farmers began to listen to the presidential candidate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In a campaign speech Roosevelt declared, “We have no actual famine…our…agricultural mechanism can produce enough to spare. Our government…owes to everyone an avenue to possess…plenty for his needs, through his own work.” Many Americans became hopeful for change following Roosevelt’s inaugurated in November 1933. Roosevelt promised more help through the federal government for Americans suffering during the Depression. Screen 4: New Hope and a New Deal President Franklin D. Roosevelt took on the “farm problem” immediately. He told men, women, and children, working in the fields that he understood their struggles because he was a farmer too. He visited poor farmers, shook their hands, and promised change. His wife, Eleanor, was also deeply dedicated. She fought for the rights of sharecroppers and other minority groups in trouble. Together, the new President and his wife firmly believed that solving the agricultural problems facing Americans was fundamental to relieving the trouble caused by the Depression. Many of President Roosevelt’s “new deal” programs were designed to help farmers, including: the Agricultural Adjustment Acts, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Farm Security Administration, the Soil Conservation Service and the Rural Electrification Administration. These programs focused on improving farm services, reducing farm surpluses and increasing prices. The USDA and other agencies quickly acted to implement these programs. The goals were to improve the economy and narrow the gap between urban and rural living standards. Programs like the Tennessee Valley Authority in the Southeastern United States, were created to promote new agricultural techniques, replant forests and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. Electricity generated by newly constructed dams made life easier and farms more productive. Momentous change was on the way. Screen 5: Agricultural Adjustment In March 1933, Henry A. Wallace took office as the newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture. His roots lay in Iowa, a large farming state. He was a farmer, as well as a geneticist and farm philosopher. Through his family newspaper, Wallace’s Farmer, he had peppered rural America with new ideas aimed at solving their problems. Yet he knew that “no plan could be perfect,” and his first big move, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was bitterly opposed. Despite the opposition, President Roosevelt quickly signed the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. It brought immediate change. The Act provided for crop reduction through plow ups (paying farmers not to plant) and slaughtering millions of pigs. For example, under the first cotton contracts, growers agreed to plow up twenty-five to fifty percent of their crop before harvest, in exchange for cash payments. Henry Wallace hoped that prices would rise in response to reduced production. Some farmers protested, but the plan showed positive results. As the Depression continued, the future looked brighter on some days, and more dismal on others. Farmers came to realize that as hard as President Roosevelt, Henry Wallace and others worked to improve farm life, they also needed to do their part. Screen 6: Dark Clouds for Agriculture During the first half of the 1930s much of the nation faced devastating drought. Numerous dust storms swept away valuable layers of topsoil across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Colorado. These dust storms were made worse by the practice of plowing fields and leaving the soil exposed before planting in the spring. The relentlessly blowing winds turned these areas into the “Dust Bowl.” Thousands of farmers were forced to move from the “dust blown deserts of shattered dreams.” President Roosevelt sent direct aid to provide relief for the hungry and homeless in the dust bowl, and the USDA took action to stop soil erosion. Hugh Hammond Bennett, a soil conservationist and USDA scientist, fought to bring the problem of erosion to national attention. Bennett supported the passage of a Soil Conservation Act to create a Soil Conservation Service at the USDA. The Soil Conservation Act was passed immediately after a dust storm from the Midwest engulfed the Capitol in April 1935. This new law declared soil erosion a menace to the national welfare and authorized broad powers to attack the problem.

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The USDA’s soil conservation programs were designed to help farmers change the way they farmed in order to prevent erosion. Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps provided much of the labor to plant native grasses and trees, and helped build ponds on many farms and public lands. Screen 7: Programs and progress The first Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s “new deal.” The act led to a reduction in crop surpluses and higher prices for agricultural products. The price supports paid directly to farmers and ranchers for crop reductions under the act and the extra revenue generated by higher prices caused a fifty percent increase in farm income. This eased the burden of the depression on rural America. However, some people saw the act as unfair because it was paid for, in part, by taxes on those who processed farm products into food and clothing. In 1936 the act was struck down by the Supreme Court. Congress then passed a second Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1938. The new act retained the best features of the earlier program but was funded by general taxation. While legislative actions were being taken to help farmers, many Americans were dismayed by the disparity of having farm surpluses while many people went hungry. To help alleviate hunger and reduce surpluses the USDA initiated new food programs. The Food Stamps program provided surplus food to poor families and School Lunch programs used surpluses to feed children. The USDA built four new research labs across the nation to find new uses for agricultural products so that farmers could find new markets for their surpluses. Once relief was flowing, attitudes improved. Screen 8: War Clouds With A Silver Lining In 1939 the growing clouds of war worldwide caused trouble for American farmers. United States agriculture braced for the unknown as foreign markets closed and surpluses surged higher than ever. Although some expected an economic boom, farmers were asked to produce only what was needed at home. However, the situation quickly deteriorated in Europe and elsewhere. America’s allies needed help—in massive quantities. Early in 1941 the USDA once again urged American farmers into no-holds-barred production. Hog farmers and cattle ranchers were also told to produce more. The Lend Lease Act of that year guaranteed the Allies food and other supplies. At the same time, officials urged American families to conserve food, fuel and other resources. Although surpluses were high, supplies could run out quickly if America entered the war. To foster conservation, initiatives such as the National Victory Garden program encouraged people to grow their own food at home. As the manufacturing of new armaments for the U.S. military and its allies swelled, jobs opened up everywhere and great numbers of men and women, especially minorities, left farm work for higher paying jobs in industry. It was obvious that America was growing again. Screen 9: “Shock Troops” of the Countryside The war in Europe continued. Although farmers jumped at the opportunity to produce more for the Allies and make more money for themselves, like most Americans they wanted to stay out of the war. Then the attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything. Farmers dedicated themselves to the “defeat of the Axis.” They eagerly adopted science and technology, such as planting hybrid corn, to increase production. Yet even as farm output increased, food rationing went into effect. Farmers began using more and more machinery to replace animal power. The shift away from horses and mules freed up more land for the production of feed grain for livestock and increased meat production. In 1942, the Food Administration was formed to bolster food production. “Food will win the war and write the peace” became USDA’s slogan. Life on the farm got busy, even hectic, and by the end of 1942 farm labor became scarce. To stem the tide of men leaving farms to go to war, the Government exempted 1,600,000 men from the draft. These farm workers helped fight the war on the home front. The “shock troops” of the countryside made a major difference. By the end of the war U.S. food and fiber production reached record levels. As one farmer declared in a letter to President Roosevelt, they “had surpassed the efforts of any other class of people in these United States.”

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Screen 10: Agricultural Science and Research at War During World War II the United States Department of Agriculture was directed to intensify agricultural research efforts to meet vital defense needs. Substitutes for rubber, tropical oils, cork and other imported products needed by industry were given priority since the Japanese controlled much of the world’s supply of tropical agricultural products. USDA scientists also developed better methods of food dehydration in order to supply the troops with nutritious food. They developed dehydrated or “instant” potatoes, new techniques for drying milk, “powdered” eggs, and processes for combining various dried vegetables and meats into prepackaged soups and stews. These improved methods of food preservation helped reduce weight and bulk and made shipping and food storage easier. New glues, plastics, paints and fabrics were developed from milk, soybeans, cotton and many other agricultural commodities. Wood building techniques developed by USDA scientists were used in American bombers. The military adopted aerial mapping and photography techniques that had been pioneered by the USDA Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service. After the War, private industry commercialized many of the products developed by USDA researchers. Of all these endeavors, the mass-production of penicillin became the most important contribution of agricultural researchers during World War II. The result of this research saved the lives of millions of people, and after the war it launched a new pharmaceutical industry. Agricultural science made a tremendous contribution to winning the war. Screen 11: The Post War Boom As World War II ended, thoughtful preparation was required to prevent the return of agriculture to pre-war Depression conditions. Four million acres of crops were plowed up and a peacetime economy was formed. However, the need for food in war-torn Europe and Asia remained high. In 1948 the United States Congress passed the Marshall Plan to meet this need, and American farmers carried on with their important work. Former USDA Secretary Henry A. Wallace had once said that the U.S. has a “moral responsibility to feed the hungry people of the world.” The United States sent millions of tons of food abroad to prevent mass famine in the years after the war. Under the Marshall Plan livestock, seed, fertilizer and farm machinery were also sent overseas to help rebuild Europe’s agricultural system and European farmers visited the United States to learn American farming techniques. As the world entered the post-war recovery period, agricultural improvements continued with new research in plant and animal science, human nutrition, soil conservation, and research into new food and agricultural products. When Congress passed the G.I. Bill in 1944, providing Veterans with educational and other benefits, enrollment in land grant colleges soared. More and more men and women graduated and took agricultural jobs off the farm with the goal of feeding the world. A post war boom was in motion, and major changes in the field of agriculture lay on the horizon.

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Lesson 3: 1950–1969 Prosperity & Challenges Narrative Screen 1: Peace and Prosperity At the end of World War II, prosperity brought both opportunity and change to American agriculture. The Marshall Plan was enacted, which helped U.S. farm exports skyrocket from around two billion dollars in the 1940s to nearly four billion in 1950. The Marshall Plan helped restore the European economy while feeding millions of people. American farmers prospered due to record agricultural production and prices. By the late 1940’s, President Harry S. Truman could honestly say, “The American farmer has reached an economic position better than he had ever known before.” Life in the United States changed. A higher standard of living increased home and car ownership and brought more educational opportunities for many Americans. A whole new economy based on consumerism was created as television images increased the public’s appetite for all kinds of new products. Science and technology were changing the way America farmed. Farms became mechanized and new pesticides, weed killers and chemical fertilizers increased crop yields. As agriculture became more efficient there were fewer but much larger farms. Fewer people were needed to work on farms, and many families were free to pursue new dreams; so they left the countryside for work in the city and homes in the suburbs. How would American agriculture cope with the changes prosperity brought after World War II? How would these changes affect individual farmers and ranchers? How would progress in agricultural science change America and the world? Consider these and other questions as you explore, “Growing a Nation: Prosperity and Challenges.” Screen 2: The Cold War Gets Hot In 1950, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. Once again the United States re-armed, with agriculture playing a fundamental role. The U.S. military and Korean civilians needed new food supplies. In July, 1950 President Truman ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase agricultural production for the war. Part of the push to re-arm required farmers to increase or decrease production of specific farm products, a course of action that World War II practices had already prepared them to accept. The American public was again asked to conserve food supplies by growing gardens at home. The war became an economic boom for farmers who had crops to sell and families to support. The USDA also stepped up research during the war, in order to assist the military in solving the scores of new problems brought on by modern warfare. New fabrics were developed to help shield soldiers from burns, and to help protect wounds from infection. Dextran, a sugar produced from bacteria acting on cane or beet sugars, was developed to assist blood transfusions. The USDA’s civilian research programs also continued during the 1950s. Their work dramatically improved the flavor and stability of soybean oil, making this once insignificant crop one of America’s most important products. Agricultural research increasingly made invaluable contributions to modern society. Screen 3: The Changing face of food and farming Farms changed considerably during the Fifties. In 1950 the average farm was two hundred and thirteen acres; by 1960 it was two hundred and ninety-seven acres and growing. The number of large-scale commercial farms continued to increase because they were more efficient and productive. Modernization, such as the introduction of the mechanical cottonpicker and the mechanized processing of peas from vine to freezer, became the goal of many producers and processors in the United State’s rapidly shifting agricultural economy. Farmers who owned smaller farms had to seek extra income from other employment, or form “cooperatives” to compete with large-scale Growing a Nation 41

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commercial agriculture enterprises. American eating habits changed along with American lifestyles. In 1954 T.V. dinners were introduced and became an instant success. Fast food restaurants became popular after the first McDonalds franchise was bought in 1955. More and more prepared foods entered the marketplace while supermarkets began to replace the corner grocery store. The frozen food industry boomed as Americans bought larger refrigerator freezers and sought more convenience foods. The number of working wives increased by fifty percent during the 1950s, and the percentage of working women with children also rose. Food preparation needed to be quick and simple for the new American family. Improvements in refrigeration, transportation and processing enabled Americans to enjoy a wide variety of foods while spending less of their income on food than ever before. Screen 4: A Free Market to Fight the Surplus When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in 1953 he believed that government had imposed too many rigid federal controls on farmers that bottlenecked the flow of business, and took away competition in agriculture. Under the leadership of Eisenhower’s Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson, the USDA reorganized to meet the changing needs of American agriculture. Benson believed that adequate research and education programs in the production, processing, marketing and utilization of farm products were the best means of promoting the welfare of farmers and the nation. When the Korean War ended, in July 1953, surpluses caused dramatic price drops for farm products. The federal government established programs to encourage farmers to produce less once again, and worked to develop new markets for agricultural products. In 1953 the USDA established the Agricultural Marketing Service to seek solutions to the problems of surpluses and help “bring consumers adequate supplies of wholesome farm products at reasonable prices.” This service worked to improve the packing of perishable fruits and vegetables, establish better warehousing and food storage systems, and develop new terminal facilities in large cities; all to save both growers and the public money and improve the quality of America’s foods. Screen 5: Science and Technology – Great Expectations The changes in agriculture during the 1950s were not brought about by government policy alone. In 1953, the USDA established the Agricultural Research Service to focus its research efforts on a national scale. Agricultural scientists were busy developing better breeds of plants and animals, and new techniques to stop insects from destroying entire crops. Research conducted by Edward F. Knipling of the USDA, using the sterile insect technique (a method of biological control) led to the eventual eradication of the screwworm, a parasite that had caused severe losses of livestock for many years. Time-temperature research by USDA scientists during the Fifties also solved numerous frozen food taste and quality problems, and helped this new industry boom. In addition, USDA scientists developed new products such as washable woolens, new cotton fabrics and better methods for making leather goods. USDA scientists also developed DEET, a widely used and highly effective insect repellant, for the Armed Forces. In 1954 American agriculture passed a technological milestone when the number of tractors on farms exceeded the number of horses and mules for the first time. In 1956 an Interstate Highway Act was passed to build modern freeways across the nation, which made it faster and easier for people to travel and to ship agricultural products across America. Screen 6: Peace, Prosperity, and Growth As the 1950s drew to a close, a revolution in American agriculture was in full bloom. Low cost fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonia, were widely used to renew the nutrients in exhausted soil. New pesticides and herbicides also led to even greater increases in farm productivity. By 1960 a farmer could produce sixty bushels of corn per acre, compared to only thirty bushels of corn per acre in the late 1940s. By 1961 one farmer could feed twenty-seven people, compared to feeding only eleven people in 1940. Public Law 480, The Food-For-Peace program, was created in 1954 to help use the surpluses resulting from the great increases in agricultural productivity. This program authorized the USDA to buy surplus U.S. farm products Growing a Nation 42

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for distribution to countries struggling to feed their own people. American farmers benefited from the increased exports while thousands of people in recipient countries were saved from hunger. As fewer people were working on farms in rural America, the federal government began a rural development program to bring together the resources of the USDA, other government agencies and private enterprise to help diversify rural economies. This program provided more opportunities for job training and promoted the development of business and industry outside of cities. Screen 7: The War on Poverty When President John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, he promised a broader government role in rural America. By then the definition of rural populations had expanded beyond people involved in agriculture to include those working in manufacturing, mining, or recreation; retirees; college students; and military personnel stationed at military bases in rural areas. The exodus of people from rural America that began after World War II continued during the 1960s and added to the unemployment, congestion, and poverty of inner city America. However, the rural poor were often worse off than the urban poor since they had less access to social programs aimed at alleviating poverty. President Kennedy felt obligated to reach out to the rural poor and to help small-scale farmers. He guaranteed price supports again, reversing the trend toward free market government policy. Direct federal payments to farmers between 1959 and 1962 more than doubled, to $1.7 billion dollars. One of Kennedy’s first acts as President was the expansion of food programs to assist needy families throughout the United States. Using the model of programs from the 1930s, the USDA expanded the school milk program and piloted a new Food Stamp Program to use America’s farm abundance. The Food-For-Peace program was also expanded to distribute agricultural surpluses abroad. Through this program, surpluses went to even more third world nations in order to help them develop, and to increase America’s influence in the world. Speaking of America’s agricultural abundance, Kennedy said, “I don’t regard the agricultural surplus as a problem. I regard it as an opportunity.” Screen 8: The Great Society After President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson continued to extend government programs for agriculture, with more food stamp acts and more incentives for farmers to decrease production. He also tried to help farmers by pushing forward a “program to make available our farm surpluses to assist in feeding and clothing the needy in Asia.” As it had before, American agriculture helped fight a war: the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia. At home, President Johnson promoted a program called “The Great Society” to tackle a variety of social issues in America, including the problem of rural poverty. Despite the poverty of the 1960s, many of America’s farming communities could expect a standard of living comparable to that of the nation’s urban dwellers, and better than most farmers could expect almost anywhere else in the world. Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freemen commented that, “America stood above all nations” because of “Scientific Agriculture.” The fruits of research during the 1960s were staggering. USDA research led to the development of new processes such as automated irrigations systems, and new products like permanent press cotton fabrics that could compete with synthetics. A range of crop and livestock diseases were identified, researched and treated. Better breeds of animals, and new plant varieties (including Fortuna wheat, Rainer cherries, and Hood strawberries), provided even more abundant and inexpensive food for Americans. By the end of the decade, advances in transportation and storage, the decentralization of livestock markets and the dominance of supermarkets set the pattern for the future of American agriculture. Screen 9: New Challenges American society had benefited greatly from science and technology during the years after World War II. However, during the 1960s people became increasingly aware of the effects of pollution on the environment. In the early 60’s, Dr. Rachel Carson condemned the widespread use of chemicals in the environment in her controversial book Silent Spring. Her 1963 testimony before Congress led to dramatic changes in the years ahead. The need to conserve and protect the environment became clearer to the American public. Growing a Nation 43

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Public concern for environmental protection brought more changes to American agriculture. In 1967 USDA Secretary Orville Freemen reported that 186 million acres of land were secure in National Forest and Grassland programs, and thirty thousand farmers were using part of their land for income-producing recreation. Farmers had an increased awareness of the need to preserve open spaces and watersheds, and to improve wildlife resources. By 1970 the environmental movement generated by Dr. Carson’s book was in full swing. The Federal government consolidated the functions of various agencies related to pollution and environmental monitoring and protection into one new agency. On December 2, 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency (or EPA) was established. This led to a host of Federal environmental protection acts which addressed the problems of pollution. Following the advice of four government committees looking into pesticide usage, the pesticide DDT was gradually phased out and then banned at the end of 1972. By that time many insects had already become resistant to the chemical and more effective control measures were being developed. Screen 10: Farming for More than Food Richard M. Nixon became President in 1969. Although his administration was heavily involved in trying to end the Vietnam War, he also set a goal to improve nutrition for Americans. President Nixon convened a conference in 1969 to explore ways to help Americans suffering from malnutrition. “The moment is at hand to put an end to hunger in America…for all time”, he said. Many of the actions resulting from this White House conference involved assistance programs operated by the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These included: additional nutrition research, extending the food stamp program, free or reduced price school lunches for low income children, and specific nutrition programs for vulnerable groups like pregnant women, infants and children. Once again the Department’s role was expanded as improving nutrition, and protection of our natural resources and the environment became priorities for USDA’s research and food assistance programs. By the 1970s the total farm output of the United States had increased by more than fifty-two percent since World War II, with six percent fewer acres of land in production and sixty percent fewer hours of labor required. Farmers made up less than five percent of the United States labor force, yet they fed the rest of the nation and many of the people of the world. Screen 11: Results from Research Overall, 1950 to 1975 was the most dramatic period for agricultural change and progress that the nation had seen. The success of American agriculture during this period of change made it possible for the U.S. to turn its energies to other scientific and technological achievements. In July, 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the Moon. The photographs they took of our own fertile planet from that barren world emphasized that the Earth is a unique oasis of life. Fittingly, it was at this time that America’s agricultural revolution was being exported to the world. This “Green Revolution” began in 1946 when USDA agronomist S. Cecil Salmon was working in war torn Japan. He discovered a small, or dwarf, variety of wheat with a heavy head of grain called Norin No. 10. During the next thirteen years Dr. Orville Vogel and other Department of Agriculture researchers bred many varieties of this wheat. Eventually they developed a highly productive strain called the Gaines Dwarf. Dr. Norman Borlaug, an American scientist working in Mexico, bred the Gaines Dwarf for the tropics and introduced his new varieties to India during their famine in the 1960s. His work saved a billion lives. For his humanitarian efforts Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. American agricultural, scientific and technological innovations, along with other international efforts had started a global agricultural revolution. This “Green Revolution” would have an immense impact on the future of America.

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Lesson 4: 1970–Present Into a New Millennium Narrative Screen 1: Boom of the 1970s Farmers made up only 4.6 percent of the American workforce in the early 1970s, yet this tiny minority generated nineteen percent of the United States’ exports. At the same time they fed an unprecedented average of forty-eight people per farmer, many of those outside the United States. It was what American farmers had been striving for—a period of growth and prosperity. The Soviet Union, (then the world’s largest nation) along with various smaller countries in the communist bloc, opened their borders in 1970 to agricultural trade with the United States. In 1972, the Soviet Union experienced a major wheat crop failure. During this time additional crop failures outside of North America spurred massive foreign buying of American grain. Commodity prices soared, and farmers prospered. Farmers were encouraged to expand and increase production to take advantage of the booming market. Farmers took out loans, bought land and invested in cutting-edge technologies such as innovative irrigation systems, specialized and more efficient farm machinery, and new pesticides and herbicides. Flourishing foreign trade with the Soviet bloc enlarged the export market for agriculture, and American farmers reaped robust profits. How long would this new cycle of prosperity last? How would American agriculture adapt to the challenges of a global economy? How would agriculture adapt to an increasingly complex and technological world transitioning into a new era in history? Consider these and other questions as you explore, “Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium.” Screen 2: Energy Crisis The energy crisis dominated world events during the 1970s. In October 1973, the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (or OPEC) refused to ship oil to the United States, Western Europe or Japan in retaliation for their support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War against Egypt. The price of oil rose dramatically, triggering a worldwide energy crisis and economic recession. The Western world, especially the United States, had long taken energy for granted. Now there were shortages, rationing and long lines to purchase gasoline. The Federal Government imposed a nationwide speed limit of fifty-five miles per hour, created a strategic petroleum reserve and formed the Department of Energy. The energy crisis also affected farmers because modern agriculture depended heavily on petroleum-powered equipment and on fertilizers derived from natural gas. The energy crises generated interest in developing renewable energy sources, including growing crops to produce fuel. Higher energy costs caused crop and livestock prices to surge and remain elevated until nearly the end of the decade. Farm land values remained high and interest rates low, which encouraged many farmers to take out large loans for the purchase of land and machinery. Screen 3: Global Agriculture International trade doubled during the 1970s. Early in the decade President Nixon devalued the dollar, which made American products more affordable overseas. This, along with bad weather in competing agricultural nations around the world, increased the demand for American agricultural exports. By the end of the decade agriculture and the rest of the United States economy had become dependent on international trade. A global food and agricultural system was emerging which would greatly reduce food insecurity throughout the world, but would also put American farmers in direct competition with farmers in other countries. Agricultural scientists increased the American farmer’s competitive edge in this growing global marketplace with new research initiatives for small farms, solar energy, and energy conservation. They developed hundreds of Growing a Nation 45

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improved varieties of fruits, vegetables, cotton, wheat and other crops (including carrot varieties with twice as much beta-carotene, an important nutrient). Researchers made great strides in animal health. For example, agricultural scientists made important advances toward developing a vaccine for foot and mouth disease. Hog cholera was eliminated in 1978. This contagious disease of swine had killed enormous numbers of pigs for more than a century and cost pork producers tens of millions of dollars in losses each year. Screen 4: The Farm Crisis of the 1980s Unfortunately for farmers, the boom of the 1970s, which encouraged them to expand production, would come to a disastrous end. The economic opportunities of the early Seventies pushed farmers to take advantage of growing exports. Since easy credit helped finance the expansion, many farmers took on too much debt - which left them vulnerable to changes in the economy. Economic changes were not long in coming. Export markets began to shrink in the early 1980s because of European subsidies, and interest rates in the United States rose. Then, in January 1980, President Jimmy Carter cancelled sales of American grain to the Soviet Union in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Compounding these problems, periods of drought during the decade affected many regions of the country. Following his inauguration, President Ronald Reagan signed the 1981 Farm Bill to help American farmers compete with European farmers again. But even with government help farm prices, income and land values continued to decline. This made it increasingly difficult for many farmers to pay their debts. These economic challenges produced the most severe financial stress for American farmers since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Screen 5: Ending the Farm Crisis Many protests broke out around the nation in response to hard times for American agriculture. The Farmers Home Administration placed a two-year moratorium on farm foreclosures in 1983, and many banks held off as long as possible on past due loans in order to assist desperate farmers. Eventually, though, many farmers were forced out of business. Growing concerns about the effects of agriculture on the environment brought about a merger of crop support payments and resource conservation in the 1985 Farm Bill. This Farm Bill was the first to contain conservation requirements. The new law mandated that farmers implement conservation farming practices in order to receive benefits from USDA. As a result of the new farm bill, the Department of Agriculture initiated the Conservation Reserve Program to pay landowners to protect environmentally sensitive cropland by planting trees, grass and other ground covers in place of agricultural crops. Additionally, USDA began to put more emphasis on natural resource protection in its research programs. Scientists and engineers provided farmers and other land owners with science-based information and technical assistance to help them manage their land in environmentally sound ways. Ultimately, expanding trade was seen as the essential solution to ending the agricultural crisis American farmers faced in the 1980s. In order to further fair trade President Reagan agreed to begin a series of trade negotiations in 1986, known as the Uruguay Round. These negotiations lasted from 1986 to 1994 and led to the 1995 creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which set rules for trade between nations. Screen 6: Alternative and Sustainable Agriculture The farm crisis of the 1980s also led more farmers away from traditional crop production and toward growing alternative or high-value crops that were becoming increasingly popular with consumers. These included: commercially growing herbs and wildflowers; fish-farming by raising fish like catfish, crayfish and freshwater shrimp; and organic farming which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives in agricultural production. Many farmers during this period also began to consider a wholly different approach to agriculture called sustainable agriculture, or a system of farming that maintained its productivity and usefulness to people forever. Sustainable agriculture was seen as being achievable by adopting methods of farming that conserved natural and farm resources, protected the environment, enhanced peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality of life, and allowed farmers to stay economically competitive. Growing a Nation 46

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In 1988, the USDA started the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (or SARE) as part of its Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. This program funded projects and conducted outreach to improve agricultural systems and to help advance farming systems that were profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities. Screen 7: A New Way to Manage the Farm During the 1990s farm management became increasingly important. Because the cost of inputs (the things a farmer needs to produce a crop) rose sharply during the 1980s, farmers needed to become better business managers and computer users in order to succeed. In response to these problems USDA scientists and their university partners worked to help farmers reduce their production costs and increase their efficiency. For example, precision agriculture and the use of computers were introduced during this decade as a way to manage smaller areas within fields instead of managing whole fields. By using site-specific information and global positioning satellites, or GPS, farmers could more efficiently manage pests, nutrients, seeding rates, water and other resources. Another innovation that became widely practiced by farmers during these years was conservation tillage systems. These systems involved leaving leftover crop stalks on the soil surface, mainly to control erosion. This practice resulted in greater water conservation and reduced run-off into streams and lakes, which better protected the environment. This decade also saw an increased concern for preserving and protecting Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s irreplaceable farmland - land that has been farmed for generations and that is essential for producing our food and providing us with scenic open space, wildlife habitat and clean water. To stop the losses of this vital resource both private and government groups were founded to protect land that was becoming increasingly at risk from urban sprawl and rural subdivisions. Screen 8: Better Times The world underwent dramatic changes during the 1990s. The Berlin Wall that had stood for twenty-eight years as a symbol of the Cold War came down in May 1989; and by December 1991 the Soviet Union was no more. The economy of the 1990s was one of rapid growth highlighted by a stock market boom that was fueled by emerging Internet businesses. Inflation and unemployment were at historic lows. This economic boom was enhanced by instantaneous telecommunications and new information technologies. Innovative information technologies opened up vast new frontiers for science. The Human Genome Project identified approximately thirty thousand genes in human DNA and made this information publicly available to scientists everywhere. Similar genome projects were started for farm animals, plants and microorganisms. In 1996 Dolly the sheep, the first cloned farm animal, was born. Government and private investment helped launch a multibillion dollar biotechnology industry to develop new medical and agricultural applications. Conditions for farmers also improved during the 1990s. Low interest rates meant farmers had less debt. In 1992 President George H. W. Bush signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (or NAFTA) between the United States, and Canada and Mexico, which eliminated trade barriers and facilitated trade among the three countries. NAFTA resulted in a dramatic rise in food exports to Canada and Mexico. Export levels of U.S. agricultural goods reached new highs in the mid-1990s. Screen 9: Increased Safety and Efficiency After a series of highly publicized food related deaths caused by unpasteurized fruit juice and undercooked fast food hamburgers during the mid-1990s, there was a public outcry for more food safety regulation. In January 1997, President Bill Clinton launched the Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Food Safety Initiative to promote public health and improve food safety. Following this initiative, the USDA took steps to improve food safety from the farm to the table. Scientists developed methods to reduce levels of bacterial contamination on livestock and rapid tests to identify germs in food. Research proved that irradiation was safe and effective, although expensive, for decreasing or eliminating harmful bacteria in meat, poultry and other foods (including fresh fruits, vegetables, and spices). As the public demand for high quality and safe foods increased, many small farmers found success by aggressively marketing their organic and specialty products to consumers. Growing a Nation 47

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Meanwhile, large agribusinesses began contracting with farmers and ranchers to raise products that specifically met their needs and standards. This system, called vertical integration, allowed food companies to control the quantity, quality, and price of their foods from farm to fork By the end of the 1990s it was clear that farming had changed. Farms were larger but fewer in number, and both small and large farms were more specialized and more efficient. Screen 10: Into the New Millennium In the year 2000 the food and agriculture sector contributed $1.3 trillion – or thirteen percent - to the American Gross Domestic Product, and employed seventeen percent of the labor force. In 2001 President George W. Bush appointed Ann M. Veneman to serve as the Secretary of Agriculture, the first woman to hold this important position. Today, significant changes are happening for every aspect of American society. Advances in science and technology are fueling a global economy. The pace of scientific research is accelerating. International trade, with ninety-six percent of the world’s population living outside of our nation’s borders, is expanding. These changes bring American farmers fresh and complex challenges. New foreign pests and diseases emerge each year to threaten agricultural production. Terrorists exist who pose a threat to the nation’s food supply. Food safety, nutrition and obesity are becoming increasingly serious health concerns for consumers. To address these challenges agricultural scientists and American farmers need to continue using the latest tools and technologies and to work closely together to keep agriculture competitive and to ensure that all Americans have access to a wide variety of safe, healthy and plentiful food. More young Americans also need to seek careers in the food industry and the agricultural sciences to meet the future needs of our nation. American agriculture has greatly changed since its beginnings over two centuries ago but it is still the foundation of America’s continuing experiment with democracy and a good life for our nation’s citizens — a life of possibilities.

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Appendix 2

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Embedded Resources Lesson 1: 1600–1929

Seeds of Change

Lesson 2: 1930–1949

From Defeat to Victory

Lesson 3: 1950–1969

Prosperity & Challenges

Lesson 4: 1970–Present Into a New Millennium

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Teaching and Learning Strategies Most of the following strategies can be used with any of the Growing a Nation Embedded Resources. Select the strategies that work best for student learning preferences, your teaching style, and content. Using the strategies outlined below not only differentiates instruction, but adds a new depth and dimension to selected content. 1-2-3 Quick: Assign pairs of students a reading resource (such as a Growing a Nation Embedded Resource). Ask them to determine the three most important items (events, facts, or concepts) from the reading. They then meet with another group who read the same reading, and compare their three most important items. Some may be the same, but together the group of four should attempt to make a new list of three of the most important items from the combined list of six items. This exercise will help students increase and practice analytical skills and, hopefully, together they will be able to narrow the information to the most important information. Brochures or Newspaper Advertisement: Ask each student to create a brochure or newspaper advertisement about an invention that they feel changed how Americans live. This should be written for the time period when the invention became popular. Cause and Effect: Students identify and explain the interaction between two events or ideas in which the action of one results in the other. Character Sociograms (Graphic Organizer): Draw five (or more) circles and place names of historical characters, countries, events, etc. inside of each circle. Use arrows to draw and label relationships between each circle. Comparison/Contrast with Timeline: Ask students to look at two views of an assigned event or one they choose from the Growing a Nation timeline agclassroom.org/gan/timeline. Then instruct students to create a Venn diagram noting each point of view in the outside of the circles. Do the viewpoints have anything in common? Ask each student to present their event and diagram. Concept Mapping or Concept Webs: A concept map or web includes two parts â&#x20AC;&#x201D; concepts and the relationships among the concepts. Concepts are usually enclosed in boxes or circles. The relationships are usually indicated by a line, or a link, that connects two concepts. See some examples on this website library.usu.edu/instruct/tutorials/cm/CMinstruction2.htm. Concept mapping has a useful strategy for the writing process or to brainstorm ideas, understand the relationship among the information, and organize the sources collected on a topic. Students may summarize information on one page and see a visual representation of the relationships among the various ideas, themes, and concepts, while placing the main idea in an outstanding position on the page. Debate: Provide students with a controversial issue, such as farm subsidies, and ask them to be prepared to speak both in favor of an issue and against the issue. Then toss a coin at the debate to see if they will speak affirmatively or negatively about the selected issue.

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Demonstration: Obtain artifacts, models or products that will give students a hands-on experience. For example, when discussing the Industrial Revolution and textile mills, bring in some cotton bolls for students to touch, dissect (remove lint from the seeds), and then spin. Games: Students create a game using the assigned content. Suggest possible game format such as Bingo, Jeopardy, Memory Match, Cranium, Hollywood Squares, Pyramid, Monopoly, Pit, etc. Grab Bag: Divide the class into groups of twos or fours and assign them to collect a bag of artifacts/pictures (4 or 6 items) from an assigned period of time or event. Each person in the group needs to contribute one or two items. Each group should be assigned a different time period or event (Growing a Nation Embedded Resource). Ask groups to swap bags and try to determine the time period or event the other group was assigned. Continue passing bags from group to group until all bags have been investigated by each group. As a class, discuss each group’s guesses for each bag. Group Presentations/Participation: Divide students into groups. Each group must then read, discuss, critique, etc. and together come up with a way to present the material to other students. Be sure to give a rubric or group norms for the presentations – e.g. all students must participate in the presentation. The presentation may be no longer than 15 minutes. All voices must be heard. Individual or Group Projects: • Create a PowerPoint • Use a video camera to create a documentary or commercial • Write an advertisement • Create a game • Make a collage • Make a sculpture or model • Draw and label a map to represent an event • Develop a timeline • Write a newspaper article or editorial • Create a display or poster Jigsaw: Students meet in small groups and discuss a topic. Then one member from each small group meets with one member from each of the other small groups and shares their previous discussion and thoughts so that, by the end, everyone has experienced each of the original small group discussions. Photo Analysis: Use the Growing a Nation Embedded Resource images or download images used in the Growing a Nation program from the Growing a Nation website photo gallery. Ask students to observe the people, objects and activities in the picture. Then ask what inference they can make about the photo and what questions come to mind when looking at the image. A photo analysis activity sheet is posted on the Growing a Nation website or in Appendix 3 of this instructional unit. Newspaper Reporter: Ask students to research and write a newspaper article for a particular event or issue. Growing a Nation 51

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Philosophical Chairs or Cross the Line: Pose a controversial statement related to the topic of study. Ask students to take one side or the other. Ask students who agree with the statement to go to one side of the room and those who take the opposing view go to the other side. Place a chair on each side from which the students may speak. Only the student in the chair may speak. Sides take turns speaking and as speakers make their points, students may change sides. They may change sides as often as they like. Picture Map: On large paper, students create a mural on a particular subject or topic (immigration, westward expansion, Industrial Revolution, New Deal, sustainable agriculture, etc.). Primary Resources: Use original documents, pictures, cartoons, posters, quotes, sound recordings, or video clips from Growing a Nation Embedded Resources. Ask students to analyze the information using the National Archives Document Analysis Activity Sheets. (See Appendix 3 or visit this website archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets. More information about how to teach with primary resources can also be found on this website.) Props/Manipulatives/Artifacts/Hands-on: Props may be used for skits or as discussion tools. Manipulatives can be anything from a speech, a picture, a tool or artifact, etc. Students can use them or create them to discuss assigned topics. Radio Broadcast: Simulate a radio broadcast program, complete with microphone, by interviewing the students in your class about a particular event or issue. For example, ask their opinion concerning westward expansion and Native American culture or about Caesar Chavez and the farm labor movement. Role-playing/Skits: Students create their own role or skit (these may also be prepared for them) to act out â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps a conversation between two historical characters. This may also be used as an assessment tool. It may be a good idea to have students come up with a rubric for their presentation. Sequence Cards and Timeline: Type a list of events from a particular era and make the font large enough that 8 -10 items on a page can be printed, laminated (for multiple class use), and cut apart. Provide each group of students with a group of events and ask them to put the events in order. You may also want to create a classroom timeline by using crepe paper or masking tape as a timeline around your classroom. Add decade markers, spaced appropriately, to the timeline. Then ask students to tape their events in the appropriate place on the timeline. Illustrations for the timeline will make the timeline more interesting. Shared Quiz: Students start out by answering the questions on their own. After some time, they are allowed to use their neighbors to continue working on the quiz or assigned questions. Next students may work together with their text, notes, or other given information to complete the questions. Time Order: Students are able to organize and sequence events over a specified time period.

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Vocabulary Matching: Use the Growing a Nation vocabulary in Appendix 4 and other text vocabulary and ask students to match each term with the correct definition. Cut apart vocabulary words and definitions and then ask students to begin to match them up correctly. Students may work independently or in pairs. Ask students to look up terms until they have all terms matched. WebQuests and Virtual Tours: Using the Embedded Resources web links in Growing a Nation, create a WebQuest to further explore a topic, event, or invention. With a little instruction, high school students can also create their own WebQuests. Ask each student to create a simple WebQuest (on an assigned topic) and then randomly assign students to do each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WebQuest. Instruction about how to develop high quality WebQuests can be found at: egacy.teachersfirst.com/summer/webquest/quest-a.shtml and webquest.org.

Sources: Jordan School District Teacher Academy 2005 Granite Teaching America History Academy 2005 Utah State University Libraries Reference Services Department. (2004). Concept Mapping in Research and Writing. Retrieved May 9, 2006, from library.usu.edu/instruct/tutorials/cm/ CMinstruction2.htm. Northey, S. S. (2005). Handbook on differentiated instruction for middle and high schools. Larchmont, NV: Eye on Education.

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Embedded Resources Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 1 Immigrant arrival The family in this photograph is at Ellis Island in New York Harbor, where immigrants arriving in America were inspected and interviewed. Questions: What risks did this family take to pursue its dream of a new life in America? What dreams do people in America pursue now? What risks are Americans willing to take today to achieve their dreams? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1A

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 2 Land ownership Read the following text excerpt about the ways land ownership changed during early American history. “During the colonial period of America’s history, the British Crown carved land up into huge chunks, which it granted to private companies or individuals. These grantees divided the land further and sold it to others. When independence from England came in 1783, America’s Founding Fathers needed to develop a new system of land distribution. They agreed that all unsettled lands would come under the authority of the federal government, which could then sell it. “Many people who braved the dangers and hardship of settling these new lands were poor, and they often settled as ‘squatters,’ without clear title to their farms. Through the country’s first century, many Americans believed land should be given away free to settlers if they would remain on the property and work it. This was finally accomplished through the Homestead Act of 1862, which opened vast tracts of western land to easy settlement.” Questions: Why did the founders of the United States change the way land was divided up and distributed? How would a nation of many landowners contribute to America becoming and remaining a democracy? What effect do you think this had on the growth of the United States? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1A Source: Christopher Conte and Albert R. Karr, “American Agriculture: Its Changing Significance,” An Outline of the U.S. Economy, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 3 Soils in America Soil is the medium for growing America’s plants. Many regions of the country have land with good soil for growing healthy crops, while other areas have less productive soil. Each state has chosen one kind of representative soil to be its “state soil.” Go to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s website Representative and State Soils. Using the links you find, examine the state soil of your state and other states. Questions: How does your state’s soil compare to the soils in other states? Overall, what do you think of the quality of the soils in the United States? What effect do you think soil quality has on the growth and economy of a nation? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A soils.usda.gov/gallery/state_soils/#list

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 4 The role of agriculture in America Most of us don’t think about where our next meal will come from because our agricultural system works so well. Yet fewer than a hundred years ago, most Americans lived on farms or ranches and raised much of the food they ate. Questions: Why have so many Americans stopped growing and raising their own food? How important has agriculture been to the growth of America? Why do Americans today have so little understanding of the role of agriculture in our nation? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 5 George Washington

Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 6 Freedom and democracy Throughout Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history, people have come from all around the world seeking freedom. Visit the U.S. Department of Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website to learn about freedom and democracy and then answer the following questions. Questions: What is democracy? What kind of democratic government does the United States have? What elements of a democratic form of government would appeal most to people who live under nondemocratic governments? What impact does democracy have on the lives of its citizens? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1A america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/May/20080619223145eaifas0.5311657.html

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 1 Agriculture in early America Contrary to what many people believe today, the land the first Europeans saw in America did not consist entirely of untouched land and pristine forests. Read this excerpted account of the history of agriculture in southeastern America before the arrival of Europeans. “For a minimum of 12,000 years, American Indians had been skillfully manipulating the environment, primarily with fire. The landscapes that the first Europeans encountered were not undisturbed, dense forests as many people today envision. Knowledgeable humans skillfully modified the landscapes to support a population numbering in the millions. “The cultivation of the tropical maize, flint corn, and beans along the Mississippi River and in the Gulf States marks the beginning of the Mississippian culture. . . . The adopted intensive agricultural practices from Mesoamerica influenced the landscape in the Southeast dramatically. Large native populations developed in much of the lower South because the more sophisticated agricultural system produced more food. Without draft animals or plows, agriculture with stone or wood implements was limited to the tillable soils of floodplains, where spring flooding helped renew soil fertility. Agricultural fields were cleared first by girdling trees and then burning the area. The ashes acted as fertilizer. Stumps were also removed over time and in the spring old agricultural debris was burned off before planting. When soil fertility declined from cultivation, fields lay fallow but were burned annually to maintain their open condition for future agricultural use. Most of the cultivatable floodplains of the Southeast were cleared of forest and managed in this way. “During the period of European contact, disease-related mortality rose to levels previously unknown and the impact of these diseases was swift and harsh. In areas of the Caribbean, entire native populations were erased. These epidemic diseases were transported from the Caribbean to Mexico and Central America and may have preceded the arrival of the Spanish in these areas. Epidemic diseases were introduced to the natives of the Southeast at about the same time. During the 100 years of Spanish exploration, disease decimated the dominant Mississippian cultures of the Southeast and resulted in their collapse by 1600. “European diseases not only depopulated American Indian cultures (depopulation is estimated as high as 90 to 95 percent), they disrupted the social structure of native societies. As in all epidemics, mortality was disproportionably greater among the young and old. Loss of the younger generation had profound effects on the integrity of American Indian societies. The loss of manpower created difficulties maintaining agricultural systems and fire regimes. Loss of the elderly eliminated a storehouse of knowledge, tradition, and custom. “The arrival of the English continued the epidemic diseases and decimation of American Indians for at least another century. English trade with the natives lured them into dependence on the European fur market for European goods, which in turn diminished the traditional reasons for hunting, while devastating wildlife populations. As the fire regimes and agricultural systems gradually eroded, the appearance of the land began to change. Uncontrolled vegetation began to form an unbroken shroud. The extensive canelands witnessed by English settlers as they pushed inland were signs that the thousands-of-years-old fire ecosystems created by the natives were in decline.” Questions: What were the agricultural practices in the United States before European settlers arrived? How and why did Native American agriculture change after Europeans arrived? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1B Source: Wayne D. Carroll, Peter R. Kapeluck, Richard A. Harper, and David H. Van Lear, “Background Paper: Historical Overview of the Southern Forest Landscape and Associated Resources,” Final Report Technical, Southern Forest Resource Assessment [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 2 Three sisters gardening Corn, beans, and squash were some of the staple foods of Native American cultures. These crops were known as “the three sisters,” because they were commonly planted together as companion crops: each benefits the others as they grow. Examine the article about the three sisters method of agriculture at the GardenWeb. Questions: How did these plants benefit each other? What principles could farmers and scientists learn from this agricultural technique that could be used in growing other crops? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/2003045238014436.html

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 3 Agriculture in Virginia Read the excerpt below regarding trade and the English colony of Virginia in 1732. “Tobacco was the important money crop, and almost every ship that sailed from a plantation wharf carried hogsheads of the ‘delightful weed’ in its hold. Many other commodities too, were shipped to the mother country as well as to New England, the middle colonies, Barbados, Madeira, Bermuda, and Jamaica. Exports from one Virginia shipping district -- Porth South Potomac -- in 1732 included (besides tobacco) staves, timber, corn, wheat, peas, beans, masts, pig iron, feathers, pork, cotton, earthernware ‘parcels,’ woodenware ‘parcels,’ bacon, hides, deerskins, beaver skins, oak and walnut logs, cider and cider casks, beef, wine pipes, snakeroot, tallow, pewter and brass ‘parcels,’ and copper ore casks. Items imported included rum, salt, Irish linen, fish, chocolate, molasses, sugar, earthernware, ‘woodware,’ millstones, Madeira wine, cheese, rice, ironware, and ‘parcels from Great Britain.’ The latter ‘parcels’ included furniture fabrics, rugs, pottery and porcelain, silver, pewter, copper and brassware, and other household furnishings and accessories needed by the colonists.” Questions: What agricultural products did the people of Virginia export? Which agricultural products might they have had to import, and why? From the text above, what can you determine about the importance of trade between the American colonies and England? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A Source: J. Paul Hudson, George Washington Birthplace, National Park Service Historical Handbook Series, no. 26 (Washington, D.C., 1956) [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 4 Colonial agriculture Colonial Williamsburg maintains a website describing life and society during colonial times. Explore their 18th Century Trades Sampler page to learn about trade practices of the time. Questions: What was one of the most important crops in colonial Virginia? How much labor did it require to produce this key southern crop for export? What resources did southern planters have for producing this crop? If many of the crops grown in the southern part of America required large numbers of workers, how would southern farmers react to changes that affected their labor supply? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B history.org/history/teaching/tradsamp.cfm

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 5 Parliamentary Acts During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, England adopted a series of laws known as “Parliamentary Acts.” These laws regulated trade from the American colonies by requiring that goods exported to England be sent on British ships. One section of these laws, the Navigation Acts, required that the colonies transport their most expensive products back to England and pay costly import taxes for this right. The Navigation Acts also restricted other exports from the colonies. Although these laws had been in effect for many years, they were not strictly enforced. Beginning in 1764, however, the British passed additional acts that heavily taxed the colonies and eventually led to open rebellion. Questions: How might these various acts affect agricultural trade? What did the colonists mean when they claimed they had “taxation without representation”? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B Source: “The Colonies Move toward Open Rebellion, 1773–1774,”The American Revolution, 1763–1783, Library of Congress [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 6 Early farm implements Questions: Looking at this equipment, what agricultural products would you guess this farmer raised? Do you think these tools belonged to a poor farmer or a wealthy farmer? Why? In what ways, if any, would these tools be labor-saving devices? How do you think this farmer obtained these tools? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 1 Thomas Jefferson

Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 2 George Washington George Washington served America in many roles, including first U.S. President, Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Army, and farmer. Visit the Mount Vernon website to read about George Washington’s contributions to agriculture. Questions: Why do you think George Washington was so passionate about the land? Does it surprise you that the President of the United States was a farmer? Why or why not? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B mountvernon.org/learn/explore_mv/index.cfm/ss/31/cfid/588825/cftoken/38126189

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 3 Horse-drawn reaper Cyrus McCormick, sometimes referred to as the “Father of Modern Agriculture,” made one of the most significant contributions to the success of U.S. agriculture by inventing the horse-drawn reaper in 1831. Read McCormick’s biography on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website to learn more about this remarkable man and his invention. Questions: Why is Cyrus McCormick called the “Father of Modern Agriculture”? Why was his invention so important to the success of U.S. agriculture? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A web.mit.edu/invent/iow/mccormick.html

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 4 Jefferson’s plow In addition to being a philosopher, statesman, and scientist, Thomas Jefferson was also an inventor. Visit the website Monticello, Home of Thomas Jefferson to learn about one of his inventions. Questions: Why was Thomas Jefferson successful in so many areas of his life? Why was he so passionate about agriculture and improving farming? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/moldboard-plow

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 5 Plantations vs. farms Examine this excerpt about southern plantations and farms. “A [plantation was a] landholding large enough to be distinguished from the family farm, generally over 250 acres[,] a distinct division of labor and management, with the latter primarily handled by the owner but often administered through an overseer[,] specialized production, usually with one or two cash crops . . .[,] location in the South in an area with a plantation tradition[,] centralized control[,] and finally, a considerable input of cultivating labor or power per unit of area. “In contrast, Southern farms were smaller parcels of land that were generally run at the subsistence level by families. Farmers grew a greater variety of crops than did most planters, and they consumed much of their harvests themselves. They also depended on smaller labor forces--generally family members and in some cases a few slaves [with slave family groups often broken up through sales]. In contrast to a plantation, a farm was typically administered by the owner without an overseer, thereby blurring the delineation between management and physical labor. “Great planters with very large holdings were a small minority among landowners. In 1860, only 2,300 planters (about five percent) owned 100 or more slaves. Thus the landscapes that they created were the exception rather than the rule in the antebellum South. Statistically, however, a significant percentage of slaves lived and worked on large plantations. That blacks living on plantations were gathered into such large groups explains, in part, how they were able to develop such strong family alliances and ultimately forge a distinct culture.” Questions: What were the differences between plantations and farms? What is different about the number of types of crops grown on each? Why? Why were black family groups more stable on large plantations than on small farms? What percentage of southern farmers owned plantations? Era 3: Revolution & the New Nation, Standard 2B

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 6 Horsepower One horsepower was originally defined as the amount of power required to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute, or 550 foot-pounds per second. Scottish inventor James Watt (born in 1736) established the value for horsepower after he determined the strength of the average horse. Questions: In what other contexts have you heard the term horsepower? Besides agriculture, what have horses been used for? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 1 Louisiana Purchase President Thomas Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Territory by purchasing it from France in 1803. With this purchase, the geographical size of the United States doubled.

Questions: Why would this large addition to the territory of the United States excite farmers, ranchers, and immigrants? How do you think the Indian tribes living in this region may have felt about their land being owned by the United States? Why? What challenges did families who wanted to establish farms or ranches in this new territory face? What challenges would the acquisition of such a large area of land pose to a young democratic government? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 1A

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 2 U.S. transportation in 1850 This map of the United States, published about 1850, outlines all the major canals, railroads, and principal stage routes in the country. Questions: What impact did these transportation systems have on the growth of the United States? How could farmers and ranchers benefit from these transportation systems? How did new transportation routes to the West affect the settlement of new American territories? Why were there fewer transportation systems in the southern United States? What did this difference mean for southern agriculture? How have improvements in modern transportation affected agriculture today? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 3 Plantation agriculture Examine this National Park website on plantation agriculture. Be sure to click on the links about rice and cotton. Questions: How important were rice and cotton to the southern United States? What kind of labor was required to farm these crops? How would the abolition of slavery after the Civil War affect the production of these crops in the South? What are some of the major crops grown in your state today? How much labor is required to produce these crops, and who provides the labor? Era 3: Revolution & the New Nation, Standard 2B cr.nps.gov/goldcres/cultural/planthome.html

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 4 Cotton gin This is the drawing that Eli Whitney submitted to receive his patent for the cotton gin. “After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Demand was fueled by other cotton-related inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the steamboat to transport it. By mid-century America was growing three-quarters of the world’s supply of cotton, most of it shipped to England or New England where it was manufactured into cloth. During this time tobacco fell in value, rice exports stayed steady at best, and sugar began to thrive, but only in Louisiana. At mid-century the South provided three-fifths of America’s exports--most of it in cotton. “However, like many inventors, Whitney (who died in 1825) could not have foreseen the ways his invention would change society for the worse. The most significant of these was the growth of slavery. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor needed to remove seeds, it did not reduce the demand for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their requirements for both land and slave labor.” Questions: What other agricultural inventions have had unintended positive and negative consequences in American history? Why? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2D Source: “Eli Whitney’s Patent for the Cotton Gin,” National Archives [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 5 Labor force In 1860, farmers made up 58 percent of the labor force. It is estimated that during the Civil War over a million farmers left their fields to serve as soldiers. Questions: What did the North and South do to make up for this critical loss of farm labor? How would the loss of men working on farms and ranches have affected American society? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Source: History of American Agriculture, 1607–2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 6 Southern dependency Although the South experienced prosperity for many years because of its cotton and tobacco plantations, it depended on the northern states for many of life’s necessities. Henry Grady, editor of an Atlanta, Georgia newspaper, gave his account of a funeral he attended. “The grave was dug through solid marble, but the marble headstone came from Vermont. It was a pine wilderness but the pine coffin came from Cincinnati. An iron mountain overshadowed it but the coffin nails and screws and the shovel came from Pittsburgh. . . . A hickory grove grew nearby, but the pick and shovel handles came form New York. . . . That country, so rich in underdeveloped resources, furnished nothing for the funeral except the corpse and the hole in the ground.” Questions: How did this economic dependency contribute to the Civil War? What part did this dependency play in ending the Civil War? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2B Source: J. Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations (New York: Random House, 1984).

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 1 Abraham Lincoln and agriculture On May 15, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act of Congress into law establishing “at the seat of Government of the United States a Department of Agriculture.” Read this brief history, entitled “Abraham Lincoln and Agriculture,” at the National Agriculture Library website. Questions: What aspects of Lincoln’s life made him enthusiastic about agriculture? What did he do as President to make sure that agriculture was successful in America? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A nal.usda.gov/speccoll/exhibits/lincoln

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 2 Commissioner of Agriculture Isaac Newton, first Commissioner of Agriculture Before the Department of Agriculture became a Cabinet-level agency in 1889, the head of the USDA was called the Commissioner of Agriculture. In 1862, President Lincoln appointed Isaac Newton the first Commissioner. The act creating the USDA directed the Commissioner to: “acquire and preserve in his Department all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain by means of books and correspondence, and by practical and scientific experiments (accurate records of which experiments shall be kept in his office), by the collection of statistics, and by any other appropriate means within his power to collect, as he may be able, new and valuable seeds and plants to test, by cultivation, the value of such of them as may require such tests to propagate such as may be worthy of propagation, and to distribute them among agriculturists.” Questions: How is the Secretary of Agriculture selected today? To whom does he/she report? Why is this position so important? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 3 Entomology at the USDA Townend Glover, USDA entomologist One of the first entomologists (insect scientists) employed by the USDA was Townend Glover. USDA Commissioner Newton encouraged Glover to start a museum containing Glover’s extensive collection of insects, as well as models of fruits. Commissioner Newton established an agricultural museum on August 1, 1864, with Glover as curator. Today, Glover’s insect collection is part of the National Entomological Collection jointly managed by the USDA and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The collection, which is one of the largest in the world, contains thousands of specimens from the United States and all parts of the world. The large holdings of agriculturally important species make this collection an important source for research and for identification of insect pest groups. Questions: How can the study of insects advance our knowledge about agriculture? Why is agriculture influenced so strongly by insects? What insects would you study if you were an entomologist? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 4 Land-grant institutions The three cornerstones of the land-grant approach--teaching, research, and extension--have improved the economic well-being and quality of life of all Americans. The first Morrill Act, passed in 1862, established land-grant institutions so that the average citizen could obtain an education. These colleges offered courses in agriculture and mechanical arts in addition to classical studies. Visit the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges website to learn the what, why, where, who, when, and how of land-grant colleges. Questions: What is the purpose of land-grant institutions? What does this tell you about the priority of research and education in the U.S. government? How has the tradition of land-grant universities affected you and your family? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A aplu.org/page.aspx?pid=1565

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 5 Disseminating research The USDA issued its first research bulletin in 1862. This first issue presented new research findings about the sugar content of several grape varieties and the suitability of each for wine making. Questions: What is the purpose of keeping others up to date on current research? Is it possible that the research was already out of date by the time the bulletin was published? What means do we have for communicating research findings today? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 6 Insects and agriculture Organic insecticides have been researched and used for many years in America. Read this brief history of insecticides from The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Potato growers in the Eastern States were alarmed in the 1860s by the advances of the Colorado potato beetle. Nothing was effective against it until someone began to use paris green, an arsenic compound, that had been used for many years to color paints, wallpaper, and fabrics. Later it was fond to be effective against cankerworm on fruit trees, the codling moth, and the cotton caterpillar. For many years the standard agricultural insecticides were paris green or London purple (another arsenical) for chewing insects and kerosene-soap emulsion for sucking insects. Pyrethrum [a substance extracted from chrysanthemums, a variety of soaps, and oil from the Neem tree] was used for household insects. Efforts to combat the attacks of the gypsy moth in New England forests led in 1892 to the use of lead arsenate, which was more effective than paris green and less injurious to foliage. Great amounts of lead arsenate were used later in orchards against the codling moth and many other insects. Powdered lead arsenate was tried against the boll weevil on cotton. It gave some control and led to the development [in] about 1916 of calcium arsenate, which came into use throughout the Cotton Belt. Lime-sulfate was used against San Jose scale beginning in 1880. The fumigation of citrus trees in California with hydrocyanic acid gas was started in 1886.â&#x20AC;? Questions: Why was it important to research and develop effective insecticides? Is it as important today? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 1 Postwar agriculture in the South The following account describes life in postwar Georgia. “The southern states were devastated by the Civil War. Georgia, for example, lost sixty-six percent of its developed resources during the war. Post-war farming practices in the south were in the midst of monumental changes as former slaves were emancipated. Prior to the war there were more than a thousand plantations in Georgia that were at least one thousand acres in size, but after the war farm size was based on the area a man could manage through his own labor, with the assistance of his family or contracted labor. In addition: “The plantations (farms) of the country were in a rough and dilapidated condition generally: stock, mules and horses for plow-teams were scarce, as was also grain to feed them . . . most of the seed was old and imperfect from neglect during the war . . . and the laborers generally disinclined to do full work.” Questions: How did the emancipation of slaves change farm life in the southern states? How did it change life in the rest of the United States? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Sources: P. B. Haney, W. J. Lewis, and W.R. Lambert. Cotton Production and the Boll Weevil in Georgia: History, Cost of Control, and Benefits of Eradication, Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia (Research Bulletin, no. 428, November 1996).

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 2 Sharecropping Sharecropping is often thought of as an activity that involved only poor African American farmers. However, many sharecroppers were poor white farmers. Below is an excerpt from “Better a Tent than a Mortgage,” the oral history of a poor white farmer named Walter Strother, collected by writer L. E. Cogburn as part of the Federal Writers’ Project (1936–1940). This government project provided work for many writers during the Great Depression. “I was born on the Wateree River fifty years ago, and lived there until I was six years old. My father then moved to Derrick’s Pond, about seventeen miles southeast of Columbia, [South Carolina]. The next year, when I was just seven years old, my father left us. I am the oldest of his family of seven children. “In order to help my mother support our family, I had to plow in the fields at the age of eight years. I became a regular plowhand by the time I was ten. Mr. [Kerningham?], on whose place we lived, hired me by the day, at a wage of forty cents a day. We earned so little that my mother could afford …continued on next page

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to buy only the bare necessities. There were days that we had to go hungry. I, in the meantime, had received but a few months of schooling. I didn’t have time to go to school. I had to work. “When I was twelve years old, and my brothers were large enough to help I asked Mr. Kerningham to let us work a sharecrop. I felt that this would afford us more to eat, because of an advance on a sharecrop. “I’ll never forget the morning I went to Mr. Kerningham and asked him for a sharecrop. He was fixing to go to Columbia. Already had his horse hitched to the buggy. He said to me, ‘Son, you can’t manage a farm.’ I looked at him square in the face and said, ‘Give me a chance.’ He told me he would think it over, and for me to come back in a few days. I didn’t wait. I went back the next day, and he said, ‘Walter, I have decided to do it. When do you want to move?’ ‘Right away,’ I told him. ‘Go and catch Kit and Beck and hitch them to the wagon and move,’ he told me. “That year, I made seven bales of cotton and plenty of corn, peas, and potatoes. And we didn’t have to go hungry at any time. “Mr. Kerningham used the lien system to run his farm. He traded with M. E. C. Shull, who ran a big grocery store in Columbia on Main Street, between Taylor and Blanding. “That fall, after we started to pick cotton, I went to Mr. Kerningham and said, ‘I have a bale of cotton out.’ “’You know you haven’t a bale already,’ he replied. “’Yes, I have, too.’ “’When do you want to gin it? It’s bringing a little more than eight cents now.’ “’I’ll do as you say. You know best.’ “’Suppose you gin it tomorrow,’ he said. “He had a gin on the place, and the next day I had it ginned. I went to Mr. Kerningham and said, ‘I want you to sell it for me.’ “’No, you take the wagon and haul it to Columbia and sell. I’ll meet you at the store.’ “I tied my mules to the hitching post on Assembly Street. I remembered how my father did when he sold cotton. I cut the side of each bale and pulled a sample and took it to the buyer and asked him what he would bid on it. Taking the samples and examining them he said, ‘I’ll give you eight cents. Might give you more after I see the bales. Where are they?’ We went to the wagon, and he pulled a sample from each bale. After examining it, he said: ‘I’ll give you eight and a half, if you’ll sell it now and not try to get a higher bidder.’ “I sold it to him and took the check to the store and met Mr. Kerningham. He said to me, ‘Have you sold your cotton?’ …continued on next page Growing a Nation 70

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“’Yes, sir,’ I replied. And at the same time I handed him the check. “’What did you get for it?’ he asked. “’Eight and a half cents a pound.’ “’That’s good.’ “We walked to the back end of the store. He sat down on a bag of oats, and I sat on,--I don’t remember what. I didn’t know much ‘rithmetic, but I had already counted up what was to come to me. He was dividing it up, after taking off the cost of bagging and ties and ginning. He said to me, ‘You have so-and-so for your part. How much do you want?’ “’Not a dime.’ “’You don’t want any at all?’ “’No, sir. Put it to my credit on my account,’ I told him. “I furnished the labor and paid for half the fertilizer, and he furnished and fed the stock and paid for half the fertilizer. We divided everything that was made half-and-half, except the potatoes. I had all of these that I made. “I worked this way two years with Mr. Kerningham. Saw that he was getting the best of it, as I thought then. But there wasn’t the slightest misunderstanding between us. “The next year, I moved away from him and rented. I bought a plug mule and got one of those liens. Had a bad crop year, and didn’t make enough to pay the rent and lien. I took the mule back to the man I bought it from. He didn’t have to come for it. I explained to him that I had nothing to pay, and he was mighty nice about it. Took the mule back and didn’t blame me. “I sold everything to settle up and was left flat again, like the first time I went to the old man. “I found out that I made a mistake when I left Mr. Kerningham. I went back and asked him for a crop again, and he gave it to me. I was a pretty big boy then, whole lot of difference from the first time. “This year I made a good crop, got a fair price for it, and cleared a little money.” Questions: What is the farmer’s attitude about sharecropping? What lessons, if any, can be learned from the way Walter Strother faced the challenges of his life as a sharecropper? Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction, Standard 2B Source: L. E. Cogburn, “Better a Tent Than a Mortgage,” American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–1940, Library of Congress, American Memory [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 3 Plowing with mules Until the invention of tractors, horses and mules were the primary source of power for farmers to do their work on the farm and ranch. Examine the image above of a farmer plowing his field. A team of two horses or mules pulling a walking plow could work only about two acres per day. This limited the practical size of the farm for one farmer to about one hundred acres. In contrast, when early steam tractors became available after 1868, they could plow an acre in just half an hour. Questions: How many acres could a farmer plow in a twelve-hour day with a steam plow? What impact do you think changing from horse to machine power had on the average size of farms in America? What factors may have kept some farmers from modernizing to steam- and later gas-powered tractors? What factors today keep people from adopting new technologies for work? What factors encourage them to adopt new technologies? Era 6: Expansion and Reform, Standard 1B Sources: Farming in the 1920s: Machines, Wessels Living History Farm, York, Nebraska [online]; and Franklin Harris and George Stewart, The Principles of Agronomy (New York: Macmillan, 1930).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 4 Reconstruction The period of rebuilding in the South after the Civil War was called “Reconstruction.” Here is an account of Reconstruction from a publication by the National Park Service. “Although the exact dates demarcating Reconstruction are not universally agreed upon, Eric Foner indicates the years 1863 to 1877: the period from the Emancipation Proclamation to the year that the ideal of Reconstruction to protect the fundamental rights of all citizens gave way to southern ‘Redemption’ and ‘home rule,’ the equivalent to white rule. (Still others might point to 1883 as the end of Reconstruction, the year the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.) By law, at least, African Americans made significant gains for their rights as citizens during Reconstruction. Racism prevailed however, and once ‘Southern Redemption’ took hold by the 1880s, racist policies continued and proliferated. Federal laws, Supreme Court decisions, and presidential initiatives would vacillate between furthering and hindering the civil rights of African Americans. “Following the Civil War, Congress amended the Constitution in ways that confirmed American democracy and raised the hopes of African Americans for attaining equality. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of 1865 and 1867 ended the institution of slavery and guaranteed equal protection under the law regardless of race, respectively. The adoption of restrictive ‘Black Codes’ by southern states however, sought to secure white supremacy and keep blacks as a laboring class. President Andrew Johnson’s moderate policy supported the concerns of the South and did little to advance blacks’ civil rights. Nonetheless, Congress passed bills to ensure civil rights and enforce Reconstruction in the South with the passage of a civil rights bill in 1866 and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 (i.e., ‘Radical Reconstruction’). Finally, the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869 allowed black men to vote. “The federal government did much to improve and aid the newly freed slaves through the establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865. Among the many services provided, the Bureau supplied legal aid, set up schools, and provided health care. Also during Reconstruction, African-American men gained seats in Congress: two in the Senate and twenty in the House of Representatives. Despite the accomplishments, racism operated to subvert equality and justice. “The economic depression of the 1870s was particularly severe in the South: yeomen farmers were engulfed by poverty and planters by indebtedness. Just as African Americans were increasing their political influence, the depression limited their power to influence working conditions: independent black farming became difficult so that most owners and renters were reduced to sharecroppers and wage laborers. Resentment and resistance among white southerners would increasingly undermine the law of the land through organized acts of violence and state legislation. “Supreme Court decisions hastened the end of Reconstruction. Under the Enforcement Act of 1870, indictments were made against several southerners who were charged with preventing blacks from voting. In 1875, the Court’s decisions favored the defendants and interpreted the Fifteenth Amendment in an ambiguous fashion. By 1877, radical Republicanism gave way to conservative policies favoring southern Democrats and ‘home rule’ was restored to southern states. Finally, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was declared unconstitutional in 1883 and the constitutional laws that were supposed to guarantee African-American citizenship rights were successfully subverted.” Questions: What were the goals of Reconstruction? What obstacles did Reconstruction face? How well were the goals of Reconstruction achieved? Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction, Standard 2B Source: Theresa Anne Murphy, Scholarship on Southern Farms and Plantations, National Park Service [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 5 Booker T. Washington Explore the overview of the life of Booker T. Washington at the National Park Services website: Legends of Tuskegee. Questions: Why did Booker T. Washington believe so strongly that education was the way for African Americans to achieve true freedom? Why were agricultural studies such an important part of the Tuskegee Institute? What personal qualities made Booker T. Washington such a great educator and leader? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1 cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/btwoverview.htm

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 6 George Washington Carver Explore the overview of the life of George Washington Carver at the National Park Services website: Legends of Tuskegee. Questions: What sacrifices did George Washington Carver have to make to get an education? What sacrifices do people in our time have to make to get an education? Contrast and compare these differences. Why should a person make these sacrifices? What was the purpose behind all of George Washington Carver’s many scientific research efforts? Who benefited from his research? Why did he create a “moveable” school? Why would colleges and universities want or need to extend themselves to reach out to students outside of traditional classrooms? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1 cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/gwcoverview.htm

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 1 The Homestead Act Visit the Homestead National Monument of America website to learn more about the Homestead Act of 1862. Questions: Why has the Homestead Act of 1862 been called one the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States? If you had been around in the1860s, would you have tried to claim a homestead? Why or why not? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C nps.gov/home/historyculture/abouthomesteadactlaw.htm

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 2 Grasshopper Commission Charles Valentine Riley, USDA entomologist “From 1873 to 1877, grasshoppers from the Northwest invaded many Western States and territories. In some states the destruction of crops was so serious that it caused starvation among pioneer families. USDA entomologist, Charles Valentine Riley, studied the plague and worked to bring it to the attention of Congress. In March of 1877, he succeeded in securing passage of a bill that created the United States Entomological Commission (sometimes called the Grasshopper Commission).” Questions: What does an entomologist do? Why was it important for the USDA to have a group of entomologists? Entomologists are agricultural scientists who do not work on farms; what other agricultural careers are not located on farms? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1D Source: The National Agricultural Library [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 3 The nation’s breadbasket The Great Plains, which extends across central North America, includes some of the best farmland in our nation, with rich, productive soil and a favorable climate. After the adoption of the Homestead Act, settlers began moving into this area, and by the late 1800s the average size farm in this region was nearly 150 acres. Questions: Why is this area called “America’s breadbasket”? Are there other areas in the world that are equally productive? What parts do soil and climate play in making this area the breadbasket? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: North American Bread basket (map), Harper College, Palatine, Illinois [online]; and History of American Agriculture, 1607–2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 4 Sod houses Farmer homesteaders in the Great Plains were sometimes called “sodbusters.” These hardy pioneers, often new immigrants, dealt with inadequate housing, water, and fuel as well as extreme environmental conditions. Characteristically persevering people, they made the land productive and built houses, called “soddies,” from the earth. The sod house reflects the never-say-die attitude of these farmers. Questions: Why would people want to homestead knowing that they would face such harsh living conditions in a sod house? Are there people living in similar circumstances today? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0501_0107.html

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 5 Barbed wire When pioneers began settling their new homesteads across the Great Plains, they found few trees or other fence-building materials to secure their livestock. Settlers initially built fences from thin, smooth wire, but soon learned that the smooth wire would not prevent their animals from wandering off. Then, in 1868, Michael Kelly invented the first improved wire fencing--barbed wire. In 1874, Joseph Glidden improved upon Kelly’s design, and by the mid-1870s the widespread use of barbed wire had greatly changed life in the western United States. Author Robert Clifton wrote the following: “The invention of barbed wire probably had as much influence on the settlement of the American West as the revolver and the repeating rifle. It certainly had a greater civilizing effect, for the progress of the taming of the frontier is reflected in the increasing number and diversification of barbed wire patents in the final decades of the last century.” Questions: Why did Clifton say that barbed wire had as much influence on the settlement of the American West as the revolver and the repeating rifle? What other inventions made a dramatic impact on the settlement of the West? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1B Source: Robert Clifton, Barbs, Prongs, Points, Prickers and Stickers: A Complete and Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Barbed Wire (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 6 The plight of the Indians The Plains Indians’ way of life was destroyed by the slaughter of the buffalo, which were almost exterminated by indiscriminate hunting in the decade after 1870. Read this excerpt from the U.S. State Department’s Outline of American History. “Government policy ever since the Monroe administration had been to move the Indians beyond the reach of the white frontier. But inevitably the reservations had become smaller and more crowded, and many began to protest the government’s treatment of Native Americans. Helen Hunt Jackson, for example, an Easterner living in the West, wrote a book, A Century of Dishonor (1881), which dramatized the Indians’ plight and struck a chord in the nation’s conscience. Most reformers believed the Indian should be assimilated into the dominant culture. The federal government even set up a school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in an attempt to impose white values and beliefs on Indian youths. (It was at this school that Native American Jim Thorpe, often considered the best athlete the U.S. has produced, gained fame in the early 20th century.) “In 1887 the Dawes Act reversed U.S. Indian policy, permitting the president to divide up tribal land and parcel out 65 hectares of land to each head of a family. Such allotments were to be held in trust by the government for 25 years, after which time the owner won full title and citizenship. Lands not thus distributed, however, were offered for sale to settlers. This policy, however well-intentioned, proved disastrous, since it allowed more plundering of Indian lands. Moreover, its assault on the communal organization of tribes caused further disruption of traditional culture. In 1934 U.S. policy was reversed again by the Indian Reorganization Act, which attempted to protect tribal and communal life on the reservations.” Questions: How and why did the U.S. government policy toward the Indians change at the end of the1800s? What other options could the government have pursued in dealing with American Indian tribes? What impact did the policy of removing Indians from their tribal lands have on agricultural expansion in the United States? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: Howard Cincotta, ed., “Plight of the Indians,” An Outline of American History, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 1 The Panama Canal While the transcontinental railroad connected America by land, the Panama Canal helped connect it by sea. Before the canal, goods and people traveling by boat had to go all the way around the tip of South America to get from one coast to the other—a trip of eight thousand miles. Beginning in 1914, the Panama Canal shortened this trip considerably by allowing boats to travel across Panama through a series of locks. The canal, which took ten years to complete, was an amazing engineering feat for its time. Watch this film to see how the canal operates and visit this Panama Canal website to learn more about locks. Questions: Why was the Panama Canal important to America? How would this canal help agriculture? What other transportation advances have helped commerce in America? Sources: Text adapted from Library of Congress, America’s Story from America’s Library, Jump Back in Time: The Modern Era (online); stock newsreel excerpts obtained from CBS, c. 1913-1914, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C pancanal.com/eng/general/howitworks/index.html

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 2 Pushing westward The westward push of the U.S. population created the need for a dependable transportation system. The transcontinental railroad was the answer. Markets expanded and opportunities for trade were enhanced. Questions: Do you think all farmers and ranchers were glad to see the railroad come through their land? Do you think that some of them were angry about the railroads? Why or why not? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 3 Refrigerated boxcar Refrigerated boxcars created a national market for fresh produce for the first time. Before refrigerated transport, farmers who wanted to sell their produce across the country were left with few options. Those who chose to transport their produce by railroad risked having it rot in the extreme heat or freeze in the bitter cold. The invention of the refrigerated railroad car in 1867 allowed farmers to deliver their products to cities across the country and gave consumers access to better and more nutritious foods.

Questions: New inventions can often solve old problems, but may present new problems as well. While the railroads solved many transportation problems, they also presented the risk of produce damage until refrigerator cars were invented. What other inventions have both solved and created problems? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: Barbara Krasner-Khait, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Impact of Refrigeration,â&#x20AC;? History Magazine [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 4 Chisholm Trail In the 1800s, moving cattle from range to market involved cowboys driving cattle along established trails. As railroads moved westward, ranchers were able to significantly reduce the distance they had to drive their cattle. Read about cattle trailing and the railroads at the Handbook of Texas Online to answer the following questions. Questions: Why did ranchers want to move their cattle from Texas to other states? Why was Abilene, Kansas, selected as a major end point on the cattle trail? What can you learn about supply and demand from Texas cattle trailing? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ayc01

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 5 The Grange Organization Since the 1700s, American farmers have formed organizations to promote and support agricultural and farmer interests. Early farm organizations during the eighteenth century took the form of agricultural societies with the primary purpose of exchanging useful information. During periods of economic stress, farmers sometimes formed other short-lived groups whose motives were to change government policies and improve the economic conditions of farmers. Visit the website of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, and then answer the following questions. Questions: Why was the Grange organized? What purpose did it serve in the past and what purpose does it serve today? What role can organizations such as this play in influencing government decisions? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C hnationalgrange.org/about/history.html

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 6 Agricultural experiment stations By the 1800s, scientists were beginning to realize the potential benefits science could bring to agriculture; however, scientific information did not always reach the farmers who needed it. During the mid-1870s, two men, Samuel W. Johnson of Connecticut and Eugene W. Hilgard of California, worked to solve this problem by establishing agricultural experiment stations in their states. In 1875, Johnson, an agricultural chemist, helped found the first State Agricultural Experiment Station in Connecticut, modeled after those he had seen in Germany. Hilgard, also a chemist, founded an experiment station at the University of California a few months after the Connecticut station began operations. In 1887, the Hatch Act authorized grants to fund agricultural experiment stations at each of the land-grant universities established by the Morrill Act of 1862. Congress established these stations to conduct agricultural research and to distribute the information and knowledge created through scientific discovery to farmers. The federal governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support of agricultural research continues today at land-grant and other colleges and universities, as well as at experiment stations. Questions: Why would the federal government promote agricultural research? What role does research serve in the advancement of a nation? What is the purpose of disseminating information and research results to the community? What role does research play in improving the community? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 1 Microscopes Although Hans and Zacharias Janssen of Holland built the first compound microscope around 1595, it took several centuries for the microscope to become a common scientific instrument. Many inventors made improvements over time, so that by the 1800s the basic design of the microscope was firmly in place. Widespread use of the microscope during the late nineteenth century revolutionized science, including the study of agricultural science at the Department of Agriculture, where a special Division of Microscopy was established in 1871. USDA scientists soon began studying plant diseases using the latest microscope technology, as described in the following excerpt. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Systematic study of diseases of plants began in 1871, when Thomas Taylor was appointed to head the newly created Division of Microscopy. Taylor had been trained in science in his native Scotland and in medicine at Georgetown University. He was enthusiastic about the potential value of the microscope in agricultural research, and his division was given the responsibility for all work with microscopes in the Department. Taylor made some outstanding contributions on plant disease. The Division of Microscopy was abolished July 1, 1895, after which other divisions were permitted to use microscopes.â&#x20AC;? Questions: How did the use of microscopes improve agricultural research? How has this tool benefited other fields? What other inventions have influenced the advancement of scientific research? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Sources: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963); and Helen R. Purtle, History of the Microscope, National Museum of Health and Medicine (1974) [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 2 Cattle fever In 1890, a disease among cattle caused widespread losses for ranchers, especially in the South. Southern cattle were often driven to northern markets, spreading a trail of disease along the way. Northern cattle, taken to the South for breeding, often contracted the disease and died. Go to the Agricultural Research Service website to learn how early scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture solved the mystery of this previously unknown fever and ended a significant agricultural problem. Questions: What was the cause of this fever in cattle? How did the USDA researchers determine the cause? What scientific breakthrough did this research lead to, and how did it help solve other major illnesses? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/tick.htm

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 3 Food and nutrition The nineteenth century saw many changes as scientists discovered new knowledge that would impact the daily lives of all Americans. Wilbur O. Atwater was one of those scientists. In 1869, he published tables showing the chemical composition of foods. For his groundbreaking work, Atwater is known as the “Father of Human Nutrition.” Read the following excerpt about Atwater’s efforts. “In early 1893, the odds that Wilbur Olin Atwater would get public support for his grand plan for food investigations were slim to none. In fact, the future of the Office of Experiment Stations, which he had worked hard to establish, was in doubt. But as often happens to people of vision, an ‘angel’ interceded in the form of a close personal friend of the Secretary of Agriculture who knew and admired Atwater. “On May 23, the Secretary wrote: ‘Mr. Edward Atkinson of Boston suggests the expediency of establishing food laboratories . . .’ “With those simple words, the door was pried open for the first federal funding of human nutrition research in the United States. Although it took another year of intensive skirmishing and skillful diplomacy, Atwater’s efforts paid off. In May 1894, the agricultural appropriations bill included ten thousand dollars for food investigations. “At that time, knowledge of nutrients and their functions was very limited. It was known that carbohydrates and fat provided energy to maintain body temperature and do muscular work, and protein had the added duty of building and repairing tissues, but vitamins were unknown. Only a few major minerals, such as calcium and phosphorus, were recognized as somehow essential but their role in the body was unclear. “Atwater’s quest for scientific understanding of nutrition was coupled with the social consciousness of the day. In an 1894 letter, he wrote: ‘The individual man is coming to realize that he is his brother’s keeper, and that his brother is not only of his household but may live on the other side of the world. With all these thoughtful people the conviction is growing that there is one fundamental condition of the intellectual and moral elevation of the poor, the ignorant, the weak, the destitute, namely the improvement of their physical condition.’ “As a special agent for USDA, Atwater scouted top European laboratories and solicited articles and abstracts from the foremost researchers in agricultural and human nutrition studies. These were translated and printed in the Experiment Station Record, one of three periodicals Atwater began as director of USDA’s Office of Experiment Stations. …continued on next page Growing a Nation 82

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“In the ten years that Atwater headed the federal nutrition program, he conducted or coordinated research in four areas: --Types and amounts of foods consumed by different groups. --Chemical composition of foods. --Effects of cooking and food processing on nutritional quality. --Learning about the amounts and types of nutrients people need to function at their best entailed studies of human metabolism and respiration. “Atwater oversaw more than three hundred food consumption studies of families and institutions in seventeen states, which involved more than ten thousand men, women, and children. These included students, college athletes, the families of professional men, mechanics, farmers and laborers, in widely separated states and of diverse ethnic groups. “Concerned about the nutrition of the poor and disadvantaged, Atwater supervised intake studies of black sharecroppers, Mexican families, poor whites, and inmates in state mental institutions. His observations ring true even today: ‘The differences in diet . . . are influenced, to some extent, by race habits, and to a still larger extent, by the material conditions of the consumer . . . especially the income.’ “Atwater left no stone unturned in gathering data on the eating habits of people worldwide. He scoured European literature, wrote to missionaries in India, and cited studies of Chinese people living on the U.S. Pacific coast, among others. “In 1896, Atwater and Wesleyan graduate student A. P. Bryant published The Chemical Composition of American Food Materials, or simply, Bulletin No. 28. This bulletin became the forerunner of USDA’s Agriculture Handbook, which is the dietitian’s ‘bible.’ [The Agriculture Handbook is no longer published. The current USDA product is the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.] It listed the minimum, maximum, and average values of the known nutrients in all American foods analyzed by July 1895. “A 1906 reprinting of the bulletin, with only minor changes, stood until June of 1940--when USDA Circular No. 549 was published. Gortner noted, ‘I’m sure that [Atwater] could not have anticipated that it would not be superseded until some 40 years later.’” Questions: What were Wilbur Atwater’s motivations as a researcher? What were some of his approaches to conducting research? What did he do with his research findings? How might you be benefiting today from the nutritional research of Wilbur Atwater and those who have followed him into the field of nutritional science? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 4 New wheat varieties Throughout its history, one of the tasks of the Department of Agriculture has been to search the world for new plant and animal types in order to increase the variety of our nation’s food supply and to ensure the productivity of American agriculture. The following account is a description of how one American scientist vastly improved our country’s wheat, and possibly saved the nation from famine. “In 1898, experts were predicting food shortages and famine because the increasing population would overtake our ability to grow sufficient wheat by 1931. They may have been right--except 1898 was also the year U.S. Department of Agriculture special agent Mark A. Carleton was sent on his first plant exploration trip to Russia. He brought back new durum and hard red wheat varieties to grow in the United States. “Five years after the introduction of that wheat from Russia, wheat production in the United States exploded from sixty thousand to twenty million bushels a year. The drought tolerance of these new varieties opened up the Great Plains and the Northwest for wheat growing, the durum wheat tasted better in pasta, and the hard red wheat made better bread. “The USDA official who sent Carleton on his 1898 collecting trip later wrote, ‘We have forgotten how poor our bread was at the time of Carleton’s trip to Russia. In truth, we were eating an almost tasteless product, ignorant of the fact that most of Europe had a better flavored bread with far higher nutritive qualities than ours.’ “More than one hundred years later, USDA plant exploring and collecting, now under the direction of the Agricultural Research Service’s National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, is still a critical ingredient in maintaining and expanding agriculture’s ability to feed an ever-growing population.” Questions: How does the collecting and stockpiling of plants at the USDA’s National Germplasm Resources Laboratory increase productivity and ensure the safety and security of our nation’s food supply? In what other ways is agriculture critical to the safety and security of our nation? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: “Conserving the World’s Plants,” Agricultural Research Magazine, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 5 Carver discoveries “One of the most significant early agricultural researchers was George Washington Carver of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. During his first twenty years at Tuskegee, Dr. Carver scoured his imagination to produce as many products as possible to help create a demand for crops other than cotton in the south. He is most famous for his products made from peanuts, but he also studied many other crops.” Examine some of the research discoveries of George Washington Carver. “From peanuts: over three hundred products including: milk, cheese, cream, coffee, plastics, paper, wood stains, flour, soap, linoleum, cooking oils, cosmetics, and medicinal massaging oils. “From sweet potatoes: over one hundred-eighteen products including: starch, tapioca, mock coconut, molasses, breakfast foods, feed for livestock, dyes, flour, vinegar, ink, and synthetic rubber. “From soybeans: flours, coffee, cheese, sauce, bisque for ice cream, oil, chick food, soup mixtures, bran, and stock food. “From waste and native materials: rugs, table runners, table mats, scarves, fuel briquettes, floor mats, synthetic marble, wallboard, wood veneers from yucca and Florida palm, vegetable dyes, etc. “From cotton: paving blocks, cordage, paper, fiber for rope, and many other products. “From the clays of Alabama: face powder, pigments for paints, wood stains, wallpapers, and calcimines.” Questions: Which of Carver’s discoveries surprise you, and why? Although these discoveries all come from agricultural products, many of them are for purposes other than agriculture. Which of the products he discovered are used for manufacturing rather than for agricultural purposes? If you were an agricultural scientist like George Washington Carver, what could you invent from the apple or some other agricultural product? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: National Agricultural Library [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Boll Weevil One pest that farmers and scientists have had to fight is the boll weevil. Boll weevils, which entered the United States from Latin America in the 1890s, destroyed cotton crops. They were especially devastating in the South in the 1910s and ’20s. Some farmers survived by planting different crops, but many lost their farms when their cotton crops were ruined. Watch this film to find out how farmers were taught to combat the boll weevil. Questions: Historically, what other insects or diseases have destroyed farmer livelihoods, communities, or even countries? Was it important for farmers to kill the boll weevils? What weapons did farmers have to use against boll weevils? Sources: Text adapted from Library of Congress, Today in History: December 11th (online); film Goodbye, Boll Weevil, 1921, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 1 Reclamation projects “Established in 1902, the Bureau of Reclamation is best known for the dams, powerplants, and canals it constructed in the 17 western states. These water projects led to homesteading and promoted the economic development of the West. Reclamation has constructed more than 600 dams and reservoirs including Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and Grand Coulee on the Columbia River.” Visit the website Reclamation: Managing Water in the West to answer the following questions. Questions: Why has the government spent millions of dollars to move water to the arid western states? Which reclamation projects are you familiar with, and what are their purposes? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B usbr.gov/main/about

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 2 Plants from around the world Since its inception, the USDA and other government agency scientists have been exploring and collecting plants from across the country and around the world. Visit the U.S. National Arboretum website to read about five plant explorers and their contributions. Questions: Why have these and other scientists spent their careers exploring and collecting plants? What plants once considered exotic are now commonplace? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B usna.usda.gov/Research/Herbarium/Explorers.html

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 3 Upton Sinclair This is a page from a letter Upton Sinclair sent to President Roosevelt on March 10, 1906. In it, Sinclair suggested the placement of federal inspectors in meatpacking houses, and advised that these inspectors should be disguised as workers in order to discover the true conditions at the plants, as Sinclair did when he researched his book. Read this explanation of Sinclair’s landmark book and answer the questions below. “In 1905, author Upton Sinclair published the novel titled The Jungle, which took aim at the brutalization and exploitation of workers in a Chicago meatpacking house. It was the filthy conditions, described in nauseating detail-and the threat they posed to meat consumers--that caused a public furor. Sinclair urged President Theodore Roosevelt to support the presence of federal inspectors in the meat-packing houses. Both the Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed in 1906.” Questions: Why did the U.S. government take responsibility for inspecting meat products for export as well as for domestic consumption? In what other areas does the government have systems for protecting the public? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1 Source: “Agency History,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 4 U.S. Forest Service “To early settlers, America’s virgin forests were vast and stubborn obstacles to be hacked, burned and uprooted until the land was bared for the plow. Through the years this huge supply of wood became fuel, lumber, and other products as needed by an expanding Nation. Forests were used as if the supplies were limitless. As a result of clearing land, lumbering, and uncontrollable fires, an estimated billion acres of forest was reduced by one-third between 1620 and 1900.” President Theodore Roosevelt became a champion for conservation efforts within the United States during his presidency (1901–1907). Roosevelt made conservation a major part of his domestic policy. He created sixteen national monuments, fifty-one wildlife refuges, seventeen new or combined forest reserves, and five new national parks. Questions: Why did early settlers have a carefree attitude about the use of natural resources? Why did the federal government create the U.S. Forest Service? Why is the Forest Service an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1B Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962).

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 5 Hog cholera Animal diseases can have a devastating impact on a nation’s agriculture. During the early 1900s, one disease that many USDA scientists worked to eradicate was hog cholera. In 1903, Marion Dorset of the USDA’s Bureau of Animal Industry discovered that hog cholera is an ultramicroscopic virus. Learn how this discovery eventually resulted in the eradication of this ruinous animal disease. Questions: Why does the USDA research animal diseases such as hog cholera? How many years did it take to eradicate this disease? What are some of the steps scientists took to do so? What diseases are scientists working to eliminate today? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/cholera.htm

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 6 U.S. National Arboretum In 1927, Congress established the National Arboretum as a part of the Department of Agriculture to develop, cultivate, and preserve fast-growing pest- and disease-resistant strains of pulp trees, shrubs, and woody plants. Today the arboretum, located in Washington, D.C., conducts research and educational programs and manages 446 acres of gardens that conserve and showcase plants that enhance the environment. The arboretum researchers also produce the USDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Plant Hardiness Zone Map to help farmers and gardeners learn which crops and plants will do best in their region of the country. Question: Look at the Plant Hardiness Zone Map to find which zone you live in. Why is it important for gardeners and farmers to know this? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/index.html

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 1 Hybrid plants “Developing a hybrid variety involves mixing, or crossing, the genetic materials of two or more varieties of a plant to form a new plant variety. In the first half of the 1900’s, USDA scientists began trying to create hybrid varieties of corn. “In 1906 G. H. Shull, a geneticist at Cold Spring, Harbor, N.Y., started experimenting on inheritance in corn. From his experiments came important observations on the reduction in vigor with inbreeding and the restoration of vigor with crossing which provided the basis for hybrid corn. Studies of inbreeding were made at other experiment stations also. The general opinion was that hybrid corn was not feasible because of the poor vigor of the inbred parents. “Open-pollinated varieties are maintained by mass selection. Windborne pollen effects fertilization, and there is no control of the male parentage. Inbred lines are developed by a combination of inbreeding and selection. Inbreeding involves the transfer of pollen from an individual plant to the silks of the same plant. This process is repeated for several generations until the strain becomes stable, or true breeding. Selection is practiced in each generation to maintain only the superior types. Cross-breeding involves the crossing of selected parents. Single crosses are produced by crossing two inbred lines. Double crosses are produced by crossing two different single crosses. “When the best of the hybrids became commercially available some farmers were reluctant to adopt them, but demonstration plantings and field observations proved the worth of the hybrids. In 1935 the demand for hybrid seed in the Corn Belt exceeded production, and the hybrid seed industry developed rapidly. “In addition to an increase in production, other benefits have been achieved by the use of hybrid seed. For instance, hybrids make more efficient use of applied fertilizer. Progress has been made in developing hybrids resistant to some insects and diseases, and the result is a product of higher quality and more stable yearly production. Because of their greater uniformity in maturity and resistance to lodging, the hybrids have helped make large-scale mechanization possible.” Questions: How long did it take scientists to successfully create a hybrid variety of corn? Why did they want to do this? What were the results of their efforts? Why do you think some farmers were reluctant to use hybrid seeds? How do farmers and consumers view the use of genetically modified seeds today? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture, [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 2 4-H clubs When the U.S. Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service at the USDA in 1914, it included boys’ and girls’ clubs’ work. The organization became known as 4-H--which stands for “Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.” Visit the 4-H website and explore the history of the 4-H program. Questions: Why did the U.S. Congress include boys’ and girls’ clubs when it created the Cooperative Extension Service at the USDA? What was the purpose of 4-H? What impact might a youth program such as 4-H have had on the future of American agriculture? What does 4-H do today? What federal, state, and local youth programs does government support today? Who are they designed to serve? Why do various government agencies support these programs? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C national4-hheadquarters.gov/about/4h_history.htm

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 3 Farmer heroes The text below is a letter from General John J. Pershing, commander of all American forces in Europe, to America’s Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, thanking the nation’s farmers for their support in World War I. “American Expeditionary Forces Office of the Commander-in-Chief, France October 16, 1918 “Honorable Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture: “Dear Mr. Vrooman:- will you please convey to farmers of America our profound appreciation of their patriotic services to the country and to the Allied armies in the field. They have furnished their full quota of fighting men they have bought largely of Liberty Bonds and they have increased their production of food crops both last year and this by over a thousand million bushels above normal production. Food is of vital military necessity for us and for our Allies, and from the day of our entry into the war America’s armies of food producers have rendered invaluable service to the Allied cause by supporting the soldiers at the front through their devoted and splendidly successful work in the fields and furrows at home. “Very sincerely, John J. Pershing.” Questions: Why did General Pershing feel so strongly about the efforts of America’s farmers? Do you think General Pershing was overdoing his praise? Why or why not? How do you think farmers felt about receiving such recognition from General Pershing? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 1A Source: Francis A. March, History of the World War (Philadelphia: United Publishers of the United States and Canada, 1919).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 4 AEF education After World War I, while the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was on occupation duty in Europe, this headline appeared in the military newspaper The Stars and Stripes (Paris, France) on March 21, 1919, announcing the creation of an army correspondence college with agricultural courses. Questions: Why would the army provide educational opportunities like these for American soldiers overseas? How would such opportunities benefit agriculture in the United States? What types of educational programs does the U.S. government provide today? Who could benefit from these programs? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 5 Mechanized farm equipment During the early 1900s, dramatic advances in the mechanization of farm equipment were occurring. The increased availability of farm credit during World War I enabled farmers to buy more mechanized farm machinery than ever before. Explore the history of some of the early types of mechanized farm equipment at the Library of Congress website. Be sure to click on the equipment links to learn about the purpose and use of each type of equipment. Questions: What unique role did each piece of equipment play on the farm? What were some of the important advantages of using mechanized farm equipment over horse-powered equipment? What may have been some of the disadvantages? Why might it be difficult for farmers then and now to upgrade to new equipment and technology for their farms? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_farm.html

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 6 Dry farming Farming in the western territories called not only for new equipment but also for new techniques. The dry climates of the West meant that either soils had to be irrigated or dry-farming methods applied. Read this excerpt from chapter 20 of Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries under Low Rainfall. “Dry Farming in a Nutshell “Locate the dry-farm in a section with an annual precipitation of more than ten inches and, if possible, with small wind movement. One man with four horses and plenty of machinery cannot handle more than from 160 to 200 acres. Farm fewer acres and farm them better. “Select a clay loam soil. Other soils may be equally productive, but are cultivated properly with somewhat more difficulty. “Make sure, with the help of the soil auger, that the soil is of uniform structure to a depth of at least eight feet. If streaks of loose gravel or layers of hardpan are near the surface, water may be lost to the plant roots. “After the land has been cleared and broken let it lie fallow with clean cultivation, for one year. The increase in the first and later crops will pay for the waiting. “Always plow the land early in the fall, unless abundant experience shows that fall plowing is an unwise practice in the locality. Always plow deeply unless the subsoil is infertile, in which case plow a little deeper each year until eight or ten inches are reached. Plow at least once for each crop. Spring plowing if practiced, should be done as early as possible in the season. “Follow the plow, whether in the fall or spring, with the disk and that with the smoothing harrow, if crops are to be sown soon afterward. If the land plowed in the fall is to lie fallow for the winter, leave it in the rough condition, except in localities where there is little or no snow and the winter temperature is high. “Always disk the land in early spring, to prevent evaporation. Follow the disk with the harrow. Harrow, or in some other way stir the surface of the soil after every rain. If crops are on the land, harrow as long as the plants will stand it. If hoed crops, like corn or potatoes, are grown, use the cultivator throughout the season. A deep mulch or dry soil should cover the land as far as possible throughout the summer. Immediately after harvest disk the soil thoroughly. “Destroy weeds as soon as they show themselves. A weedy dry-farm is doomed to failure. “Give the land an occasional rest, that is, a clean summer fallow. Under a rainfall of less than fifteen inches, the land should be summer fallowed every other year under an annual rainfall of fifteen …continued on next page Growing a Nation 93

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to twenty inches, the summer fallow should occur every third or fourth year. Where the rainfall comes chiefly in the summer, the summer fallow is less important in ordinary years than where the summers are dry and the winters wet. Only an absolutely clean fallow should be permitted. “The fertility of dry-farm soils must be maintained. Return the manure plow under green leguminous crops occasionally and practice rotation. On fertile soils plants mature with the least water. “Sow only by the drill method. Wherever possible use fall varieties of crops. Plant deeply--three or four inches for grain. Plant early in the fall, especially if the land has been summer fallowed. Use only about one half as much seed as is recommended for humid-farming. “All the ordinary crops may be grown by dry-farming. Secure seed that has been raised on dry-farms. Look out for new varieties, especially adapted for dry-farming, that may be brought in. Wheat is king in dry-farming corn a close second. Turkey wheat promises the best. “Stock the dry-farm with the best modern machinery. Dry-farming is possible only because of the modern plow, the disk, the drill seeder, the harvester, the header, and the thresher. “Make a home on the dry-farm. Store the flood waters in a reservoir or pump the underground waters, for irrigating the family garden. Set out trees, plant flowers, and keep some live stock. “Learn to understand the reasons back of the principles of dry-farming, apply the knowledge vigorously, and the crop cannot fail. “Always farm as if a year of drouth [drought] were coming.” Questions: How does the technique of dry farming impact the economies of the western states? Why is this book on dry farming still used by farmers around the world today? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: John A. Widtsoe, Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries under Low Rainfall [online].

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 12, Embedded Resource 1 Dr. Louise Stanley Dr. Louise Stanley, first chief of the Bureau of Home Economics. The USDA formed the Bureau of Home Economics in 1923. Dr. Louise Stanley served as the first chief of the bureau. She had previously served as chairman of the Home Economics Division at the University of Missouri. During her time at the Bureau of Home Economics, Dr. Stanley worked to apply scientific solutions to the day-to-day problems facing rural families. She is noted for her scientific analyses of nutrition and for developing recommendations for healthy diets. Dr. Stanley studied the nutritional needs of Americans during times of disaster, and also compiled estimates of the foods Americans needed in order to have an adequate diet. Questions: How is science used today to solve everyday problems? What aspects of your life are influenced by scientific research? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962).

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 12, Embedded Resource 2 County agents This chart shows the number of counties with county extension agents from 1904 to 1924. “Extension was formalized in 1914, with the Smith-Lever Act. It established the partnership between the agricultural colleges and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work. At the heart of agricultural extension work, according to the Act, was: --Developing practical applications of research knowledge. --Giving instruction and practical demonstrations of existing or improved practices or technologies in agriculture.” Questions: Why did the number of counties with extension agents increase so dramatically during these twenty years? What is the value of education to someone trying to support a family? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: William A. Loyd, County Agricultural Agent Work under the Smith-Lever Act, 1914–1924 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1926).

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 12, Embedded Resource 3 Calvin Coolidge President Calvin Coolidge served from 1923 to 1929. “To many Americans, Calvin Coolidge embodied the frugality they sought in their lives. The image he presented in numerous photographs and films was that of a simple man who endorsed plain living. Pictures of him as a rural Vermonter working in the fields of his family’s Plymouth Notch farm emphasized traditional values and thriftiness and allayed popular anxieties about excess and indulgence. It was an image that served him well and that he actively promoted in his electoral and public-relations campaigns. “In keeping with his image, Coolidge’s great policy concern was economy in government. He assumed office in August 1923 upon the death of Warren G. Harding and served as president for six years. During that time he concerned himself with such measures as paying off the national debt, eliminating waste, and cutting taxes to stimulate capital investment. He also endorsed a business climate in which advertising played a major role. He generally spoke and acted in ways that supported business regardless of his private opinions, and viewed the federal government itself as a cost-conscious business organization.” Questions: Why have many presidents, like Coolidge, emphasized their rural roots? Is it the responsibility of government to see that the economy prospers? Why or why not? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 1 Source: “The Coolidge Presidency,” Library of Congress [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 12, Embedded Resource 4 Inventing the radio Italian Guglielmo Marconi and Canadian Reginald Fessenden are credited as two of the pioneers in radio development. After years of development and experimentation, the first public radio broadcasts took place in the 1920s. Visit the Federal Communications Commission website and answer the following questions. Questions: What impact did communications media such as radio have on farmers in rural areas? How did the media help connect rural and urban inhabitants? What communication device do you think still needs to be invented? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B fcc.gov/omd/history/radio/ideas.html

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Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 12, Embedded Resource 5 Labor force This chart shows the decline in the number of farm workers from 1850 to 1920. Questions: Why do you think these changes occurred? What do the changes tell us about technological advances? How do you think these changes affected American communities during this period? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: History of American Agriculture, 1607-2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: 1600-1929, Screen 12, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Nutrition During the 1920s, the government became concerned about the nutrition of Americans. Watch the following film to learn why the government was encouraging healthy eating. Questions: How do the nutrition problems of the 1920s compare with those of today? How does better nutrition help Americans? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: Film Food Makes a Difference, 1931, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Embedded Resources Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 1 Plenty of food; nothing to eat Because farmers couldn’t get a fair price for their produce, food was left to rot during the Depression until the government instituted surplus disposal programs. One observer claimed: “A number of Montana citizens told me of thousands of bushels of wheat left in the fields uncut on account of its low price that hardly paid for the harvesting. In Oregon I saw thousands of bushels of apples rotting in the orchards. Only absolutely flawless apples were still salable, at from 40 to 50 cents a box containing 200 apples. At the same time, there are millions of children who, on account of poverty to their parents, will not eat one apple this winter.” Questions: How frustrated would you feel if you knew food was plentiful, but could find nothing to eat? What would you tell your children if you were in a situation like this? What would you do to improvise and make money? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Peter B. Levy, ed., 100 Key Documents in American Democracy (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 2 Controlling insect damage In the early 1930s, the USDA developed a technique to produce milky disease spore powder in commercial quantities to control damage from Japanese beetles. Japanese beetles were one of the country’s most destructive insects. They destroyed the leaves, blossoms, and fruits of more than 275 plants, shrubs, and trees. Milky disease is caused by bacteria that Japanese beetle grubs take in as they work their way through the soil and feed on plant roots. The disease kills a high percentage of grubs over time. This was the first large-scale use of a disease organism to control an insect pest. Visit the Agricultural Research Service website to explore the efforts of scientists to control insects over the years. Questions: What is the difference between insecticides and bio-controls? What are the pros and cons of each approach for controlling harmful insects? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/insect.htm

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 3 Corn for fuel Some farm families were unable to sell their corn crop as food. Instead, they burned the corn to heat their stoves and homes. Questions: What do you think of the resourcefulness of the people? What kinds of things would you have done to try to “make ends meet”? What have you done in the past to be resourceful? What do you anticipate doing in the future to make ends meet? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: “Productivity Matters,” The Ledger (Winter 2003–2004), Federal Reserve Bank of Boston [online].

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 4 Modern conveniences Life on a farm in the 1930s wasn’t like it is today. One humorous story highlights the deficiencies of living without certain household improvements so common to our twenty-first-century households: “I had a horrible choice of either sitting in the dark and not knowing what was crawling on me or bringing a lantern and attracting moths, mosquitoes, nighthawks and bats.” Questions: Would someone without the modern experience of plumbing, electricity, and running water complain about this situation? How would you feel if you had gone to the city and experienced modern comforts and then returned to the farm? Would you feel unequal? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 5 Farm incomes change Questions: What happened to farmer’s lives as they continued to lose money? How does this problem still occur in society today? Would you choose to stay on the farm if it meant making less money? What are the career options for a person who is interested in agriculture but doesn’t want to become a farmer? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1A Source: “Agriculture--Farms, Acreage, Income, and Foreign Trade,” Mini Historical Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau [online].

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 6 Penny auctions To make sure that the banks did not profit from the foreclosure of farms, farmers banded together and pressured bidders to place only very low bids. Visit the New Deal Network website to learn more about penny auctions and then answer the following questions. Questions: Why were farmers and rural communities so willing to join together? How did they protect their community interests? Why were they less hospitable to outsiders? What can you do to prepare for future economic shortages? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B newdeal.feri.org/timeline/1933c2.htm

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 1 Too much research? In 1932, Secretary of Agriculture Arthur Hyde wrote, “It is frequently said that agricultural research is not required at present because it tends to stimulate agricultural production. In the face of existing surpluses, the country needs not more but less agricultural research. This faulty logic has attracted wide attention.” Questions: Why was research so important, even in the face of overproduction? Do you think agricultural research was good or bad at this period of time? Why or why not? Why should or shouldn’t we continue research today? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Yearbook of Agriculture, 1933 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1933).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 2 How to help the people As crops failed due to the widespread drought of the 1930s, people found it more difficult to put food on the table. A woman in Kentucky wrote (any errors that exist are as found in the original text): “We have been eating wild greens since January this year, such as Polk salad. Violet tops, wild onions, forget me-not wild lettuce and such weeds as cows eat as cows wont eat a poison weeds. Our family are in bad shape childrens need milk women need nurishment food shoes and dresses that we cannot get. And there at least 10,000 hungry People in Harlan County daily. I know because I am one of them.” Questions: What could have been done to help these people? What do you think were the roots of the problem? Why didn’t the government intervene? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Alfred B. Rollins, Jr., ed., Depression, Recovery, and War (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 3 The Red Cross The Red Cross played an important role in helping farmers who were struggling during the drought of the 1930s. The relief program was the largest the agency had performed up to that time. People from as far away as Greece sent food to help farmers in the Midwest. Visit the Red Cross website and then answer the following questions. Questions: Why was it important to have independent groups willing to help during the Depression? How does it make you feel to know that America was struggling so much that other countries had to assist us? How might history repeat itself? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B redcross.org/museum/history/20-39_c.asp

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 4 Herbert Hoover In 1929, Herbert Hoover became the thirty-first President of the United States. Visit the White House website to read a brief biography of this unique president and then answer the following questions. Questions: What leadership qualities did Herbert Hoover possess that were important to his success in the presidency? What were the more important events that occurred during his presidency? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/hh31.html

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 5 Wheat fields â&#x20AC;&#x153;The value of wheat at Minneapolis fell so low that it did not equal freight costs from central Montana. In the summer of 1930 the manager of the Farmers National Grain Corporation told a delegation of North Dakota wheat producers that he could not advance them money to buy binding twine: the wheat harvest that year would not be worth the cost of the twine.â&#x20AC;? Questions: How would you feel if you were one of those producers? Why do the prices of wheat and other commodities rise and fall? Who is responsible? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: George McGovern, ed., Agricultural Thought in the Twentieth Century (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Canning Beef During the droughts and dust storms of the 1930s, crops and rangeland for livestock were destroyed. The government initiated several programs to help struggling farmers and rural families without enough food. The State Extension Service, affiliated with land grant colleges, the USDA, and FERA, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, found a way to make the best of this situation by buying starving cattle from farmers, slaughtering them, and canning the meat for hungry families. Watch this film to learn more about the program. Questions: Who was helped by the beef-canning program? How do government programs adapt to meet the challenges facing America? Do you think it is the responsibility of the government to assist Americans in need? How are government programs paid for? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 1 Changing occupations Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Rexford G. Tugwell said on August 4, 1933, “We must study and classify American soil, taking out of production not just one part of a field or farm, but whole farms, whole ridges, perhaps whole regions. . . . It has been estimated that when lands now unfit to till are removed from cultivation, something around two million persons who now farm will have to be absorbed by other occupations.” Questions: Where would so many farmers go? Do we see mass migrations of people today? What percentage of Americans live in urban areas today? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Frank Freidel, ed., The New Deal and the American People (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1964).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 2 Drought research Even before the droughts of the 1930s, the USDA was conducting research on drought conditions. Researchers “demonstrated that drought begins when soil moisture is so diminished that vegetation is unable to absorb water from the soil rapidly enough to replace the water lost to the air by plant transpiration.” Questions: Did researchers know a severe drought was on its way? Why were they researching droughts if there wasn’t a terrible drought at the time? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 3 Farmers protest Farmers became desperate when the situation seemed hopeless during the early years of the Depression. Some farmers organized to protest against low farm prices. One farmer voiced his desperation this way: “They say blockading the highways [is] illegal. I say, seems to me there was a Tea party in Boston that was illegal too. What about destroying property in Boston Harbor when our country was started?” Questions: Do you think that this farmer was justified in his feelings? Are there people in the United States who still feel this way? What are some of the issues? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Robert S. McElvaine, The Great Depression (New York: Time Books, 1984).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 4 The Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) formed an important part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. It put thousands of unemployed men to work throughout the country in national parks, forests, and other public lands. “Two million men worked as CCC recruits in more than 1,200 camps across the country between 1933 and 1942. Initially known as the Emergency Conservation Work program, the CCC was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide impoverished youth of the Depression the opportunity to improve their education and ability to earn a living. It also realized Roosevelt’s desire to conserve the human and natural resources of the nation.” Visit the National Park website honoring the Civilian Conservation Corps and answer the following questions. Questions: Why did President Roosevelt create the CCC? Why were young men so willing to participate in the “three C’s”? How would you respond if the CCC were introduced again today? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B nps.gov/history/history/online_books/ccc/ccc1.htm

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 5 The Tennessee Valley Authority Congress established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933 to help conserve natural resources, provide flood control, improve navigation of rivers, and bring electric power to seven states in the south-central United States. After reading about the Tennessee Valley Authority and its involvement with agriculture, answer the following questions. Questions: What did the TVA try to do with agriculture in the region of the United States in which it worked? How did the TVA utilize research to assist farmers? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B newdeal.feri.org/tva/tva14.htm

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Homesteads and the Taylor Grazing Act Under the Homestead Act of 1862, unclaimed public lands, mainly in the West, were available to settlers, or homesteaders, who would live on and improve the land. Unfortunately, many of the homesteads were on land that was more suitable for grazing cattle than growing crops. Droughts, failed attempts at farming, and overgrazing by cattle and sheep further depleted the soil in many areas. Listen to this audio clip from What Price America to learn how the Taylor Grazing Act addressed some of these problems: Questions: What is conservation? Did the Taylor Grazing Act strike a good balance between conservation and use of the land? What are other examples of resources that Americans need to both use and conserve? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Audio What Price America, 1939, courtesy of the Resettlement Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 1 America loses farms “Between 1920 and 1930 rural America lost roughly 6 million people from the farms. Three fourths of them were under 35 years old. There wasn’t enough work for them when they went to the cities so they came home.” Questions: How could rural America provide for so many jobless people? What ideas do you have that might have helped solve the problem of unemployment in the countryside? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1934 (Washington D.C., U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1934).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 2 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) became the thirty-second President of the United States in March of 1933. Visit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum website to gain additional insights about the man who led the country during a part of the Great Depression and the majority of WWII. Questions: What character qualities did FDR possess that would enable him to be elected to four terms of office? What actions did he take to lead the country during the war? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B fdrlibrary.marist.edu/facts.html#fdr

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 3 Rural Electrification Administration When power companies argued that it was too expensive to string electric lines to isolated rural farmsteads, the New Dealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rural Electrification Administration sponsored cooperatives that received low-cost government loans for developing electric power. Visit the New Deal Network website and answer the following questions. Questions: Why was it essential to bring electricity to rural America, especially to farms? What would it be like to live on a farm with no electricity? Which recent advances have had the greatest impact on rural and urban society? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B newdeal.feri.org/tva/tva10.htm

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 4 Rodents in crops Throughout the ages, rodents have caused more damage to agriculture than any other wildlife. Rodents, particularly rats and mice, eat and damage food in fields and storage facilities. Their urine and droppings spoil food, and they can also transmit diseases to people. During the 1930s, the USDA estimated that rodents caused more than $200 million in crop losses annually. In the 1920s, USDA scientists developed a highly effective rat killer called red squill from the bulb of a flowering plant from the Mediterranean region. This poison was considered less dangerous to humans and other animals because, although toxic, it is also a powerful emetic so most animals will throw up the red squill poison if it is ingested. Rats, however, are unable to vomit and are thus highly susceptible to its poisonous effects. Questions: Why was it essential to find creative ways to eliminate pests? What pests affect agriculture and homes today? What role does research play in developing new pesticides and poisons? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Sources: Routt J. Reigart, Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings, 5th ed. (Washington, D.C.: U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1999); and The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1934 (Washington D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, 1934).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 5 Tenant farms In 1930, African Americans owned 159,894 farms and worked as tenants on 714,433 farms. White farmers owned 2,753,186 farms and accounted for 1,954,247 tenant farmers. What prevented African Americans from owning their own land? How could they come out on top in the end? What are other possible explanations for the data on the chart? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 1B Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S: From Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Commerce, 1975).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority was one of many government programs that helped people during the Depression. Visit this web page to learn more about the TVA and how it changed over time. Questions: What were the original problems the TVA had to solve? How did the TVA adapt to solve new problems over time? Why was the TVA able to change as the needs of the people it served changed? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A tva.gov/abouttva/history.htm

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 1 Money in the farmer’s mailbox To help alleviate the struggles of so many Americans, the federal government sent money in the form of checks to countless homes across the country. “In a couple of days they would be delivered to 10,000 villages, crossroads and lane ends and into the heavy hands of farmers who raise the country’s wheat, cotton, tobacco, corn and hogs, and so on.” Questions: How was direct aid going to help the American farmer? Why or why wasn’t it essential? What types of aid does the government provide farmers today? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Source: Frank Freidel, ed., The New Deal and the American People (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1964).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 2 Farm Holiday movement The Farm Holiday movement was established by farmers who wanted to protest the low prices they were receiving for their products. Visit the Wessels Living History Farm website to learn more about this protest movement and then answer the following questions. Questions: What were farmers hoping to achieve by protesting? Are there certain times when the occasion necessitates protesting and direct action to change policies? Why or why not? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/money_11.html

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 3 Eleanor Roosevelt supports tenant farmers Throughout her life, Eleanor Roosevelt championed many causes on behalf of the poor. She believed tenant farmers were severely mistreated during the Depression and supported a controversial group that tried to help. Read this short history of the Southern Tenant Farmer’s Union and answer the questions. Questions: Why was it important for tenant farmers to join together in order to protest for change? Why should tenant farmers receive protection from the government? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=35

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 4 Henry A. Wallace Born near Orient, Iowa, on October 7, 1888, Henry A. Wallace served as Secretary of Agriculture from March 4, 1933 until September 4, 1940. Considered by many to be one of the departments greatest secretaries, he helped create the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which stabilized farm prices, ensured an adequate food supply, and encouraged conservation. The Rural Electrification Administration, the food stamp program, the school lunch program, and the Food for Peace program all began under Wallace’s leadership. Wallace also created the emergency granary system through which the federal government purchases surplus grain and stores it against future needs. He felt this was his greatest achievement as Secretary of Agriculture. Wallace also served as Vice President of the United States from 1940 to 1944, and Secretary of Commerce from 1945 to 1946. He was a corn geneticist who helped develop the first commercial variety of hybrid corn, which significantly increased corn yields. Questions: What abilities did Wallace have that made him capable of so many leadership positions? Do today’s leaders show the same qualities? What personal qualities do you think most leaders possess? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 5 Empty fields In 1933, under the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the federal government paid some farmers not to plant their fields. The government hoped this would drive crop supply downward in order to increase demand, drive up prices, and improve farm incomes. Questions: If you were a farmer in a situation like this, would it be difficult to support the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision? Why or why not? If the plan failed and no rise in prices occurred, how would you react? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 6 Prices plummet During the Depression, not only did the value of produce decrease, the price of livestock also plummeted. The decline in the price of sheep meant that ranchers earned only about onethird of the income they had made five years earlier. Questions: How would a 65 percent reduction in wages affect your home? What would you and your family do if this happened to you? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Source: National Agricultural Statistics Service [online].

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 1 Fires! During the period of widespread drought in the 1930s, the number of brush fires increased. In 1935, there were 140 reported fires. In 1936, that number rose to 226. Questions: Why was this happening? Was this just a natural environmental pattern? Are we still susceptible, or is our technology advanced enough to withstand adverse environmental conditions? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S: From Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Commerce, 1975).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 2 The Dust Bowl In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt formed the Great Plains Drought Area Committee to study the Great Plains drought and to make recommendations that would make future droughts less disastrous. One discovery the committee made was that man himself had had a major impact on the severity of the drought. In August of 1936, the committee reported: “One primary source of disaster has been the destruction of millions of acres of this natural cover [prairie grass], an act which in such a series of dry years as that through which we are now passing left the loose soil exposed to the winds. This destruction has been caused partly by over grazing, partly by excessive plowing. It has been an accompaniment of settlement, intensified in operation and effect since the [First] World War.” Questions: What natural disasters are we faced with today that are comparable to the Dust Bowl? How might man have an effect on these natural disasters? How can science and other forms of research help to compensate for them? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Sources: Morris Cooke et al., Report of the Great Plains Drought Committee, New Deal Network [online]; audio and transcript of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat 8, September 6, 1936, “On Farmers and Laborers,” courtesy of Presidential Recordings Program, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 3 Advances on the farm In 1934, Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace wrote, “The wheat farmer in the great plains has at his command in the tractor and the combine the power of 300 men. He can cultivate 1,000 acres and feed 2,000 people. The corn grower has new inbred strains of corn developed in this Department and in the State experiment stations that give promise of producing the Nation’s present corn supply from 90,000,000 acres instead of 100,000,000. By fertilizing only to a profitable extent, and by a more general practice of efficient crop rotations, it would be possible to get the present corn supply from 70,000,000 acres. Moreover, this saving of land would save half a billion hours of man labor annually and would save eroding hilly land which is now washing into the rivers.” Questions: How would you characterize the tone of Wallace’s comments? What advances are being made that evoke celebration today? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1934 (Washington D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, 1934).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 4 Agricultural Adjustment Act consequences Franklin D. Roosevelt promised farmers change through the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which tried to raise farm prices by reducing production levels. Questions: Although some of his programs were controversial, what began to happen by 1933, just after his election? Do you think this would have happened without FDR’s programs? Why or why not? How does reducing cotton and wheat acreage help maximize farm income? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S: From Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Commerce, 1975).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 5 Cut production--raise prices Franklin D. Roosevelt believed farmers could become successful once again if they produced less with government support. Roosevelt said: “Without our help the farmers cannot get together and cut production, and the Farm Bill gives them a method of bringing their production down to a reasonable level and of obtaining reasonable prices for their crops. I have clearly stated that this method is in a sense experimental, but so far as we have gone we have reason to believe that it will produce good results. “It is obvious that if we can greatly increase the purchasing power of the tens of millions of our people who make a living from farming and the distribution of farm crops, we will greatly increase the consumption of those goods which are turned out by industry.” Questions: Do you believe government intervention is necessary to solve problems? In what ways does the government intervene in our daily lives? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, Monday, July 24, 1933.

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 6 Dust arrives in Washington, D.C As the work of the USDA’s Soil Conservation Service began to earn respect among farmers, friends of the soil conservation movement introduced bills into Congress to ensure continued action. During one especially memorable congressional hearing, recounted below by USDA soil conservationist and scientist Hugh Hammond Bennett, a huge dust cloud engulfed Washington, D.C., driving the point home. “The hearing was dragging a little. I think some of the Senators were sprinkling a few grains of salt on the tail of some of my astronomical figures relating to soil losses by erosion. At any rate, I recall wishing rather intensely, at the time, that the dust storm then reported on its way eastward would arrive. I had followed the progress of the big duster from its point of origin in northeastern New Mexico, on into the Ohio Valley, and had every reason to believe it would eventually reach Washington. “It did--in sun-darkening proportions--and at about the right time--for the benefit of Public Forty-six. “When it arrived, while the hearing was still on, we took a little time off the record, moved from the great mahogany table to the windows of the Senate Office Building for a look. Everything went nicely thereafter.” Questions: How did the dust storm help Hugh Hammond Bennett attain success during his testimony before Congress? How would you have responded had you been in the Senate Office Building at the time of Bennett’s testimony? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2A Source: Douglas Helms, “Natural Resources Conservation Service: Brief History,” NRCS History Articles, Natural Resources Conservation Service [online].

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 1 Farm income improves The Roosevelt administration could claim that things were getting better for farmers. The average farm income in 1934 was $431 per farm. One year later it was $775. Questions: What were some of the reasons for the improvement? How can environmental factors influence the economy? How can political events affect the economy? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: “Agriculture--Farms, Acreage, Income, and Foreign Trade,” Mini Historical Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau [online].

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 2 Resettlement Administration In 1935, Richard McKay and his family joined other tenant farmers from North Carolina to form a cooperative farming community, established by the Resettlement Administration, called Roanoke Farms. President Roosevelt instituted the Resettlement Administration in 1935 to help destitute farm families and to retire marginal land. Programs of the Resettlement Administration included providing special loans and grants, building migrant labor camps, establishing three suburban planned communities, and relocating poor farmers living on destroyed or misused land. Roanoke Farms was one of the administration’s cooperative farming communities where farmsteads were grouped around a local center and the farmland was worked as a group. These farming communities often consisted of both white and black farmers. Hard work was required, but help from the USDA was available. Part of the program consisted of teaching farmers like McKay how to organize their crops to make better use of the land. A reporter visiting the McKay’s noted: “Today, the size of Mr. McKay’s farm almost exactly equals the one he farmed as a tenant, but the crop allocation has been worked out by an agronomist. Three acres are in tobacco, and five in cotton, eight in peanuts the rest in woodland and pasture meaning a cash crop of around $800. Methods of scientific crop rotation and strip cropping in another four or five years will increase the productivity of the farm, and if present prices hold proportionally augment the family’s cash income. But even more significant in the eyes of Farm Security is the fact that the McKay’s, except for coffee, bread and sugar, are raising all the family’s food on the farm which they didn’t before. . . . On Mrs. McKay’s pantry shelves are 468 quarts of canned vegetables which she put up herself to carry the family through the winter.” Questions: Why was the government so willing to assist these farmers? Why was teaching them the right technique important to their success? In your opinion, how well did this specific project work? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: Charles R. Walker, Homesteaders--New Style, New Deal Network [online].

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 3 Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 Congress replaced the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 with the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. USDA Secretary Henry A. Wallace called the act “a new charter of economic freedom.” The 1933 act caused many people to worry about food shortages because it paid farmers not to plant certain crops. The new act reassured consumers that adequate reserves of food would be maintained. Questions: Government decisions have widespread effects beyond the groups they specifically concern. Do you see any decisions that are made in your school, home, or work that influence more than just one group? Why were those decisions made? Whom did they affect the most? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 4 Food stamps ”In the years leading up to 1939, the USDA had taken ‘great interest in alternative proposals for helping needy families buy more foods through the regular private channels of trade.’ This was also seen as a potential avenue for the decrease and subsequent rotation of surplus foods. The food stamp plan emerged as a possible solution and in April, 1939, Rochester, N.Y. was designated as the first experimental city with Shawnee, O.K. soon to follow. The food stamp plan is still in use today and serves as a means whereby low-income families can purchase nutritional foods at a discounted rate.” Questions: What is the principle behind implementing the food stamp plan? What does this say about the government’s feeling of responsibility toward all citizens? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 5 School lunch program Although school lunches had been distributed by some school boards, charities, and other organizations before the Depression, direct federal assistance started after nutrition scientists began calling attention to the serious consequences of vitamin deficiencies. Questions: What is the U.S. government’s motivation for the school lunch program and other similar endeavors? Are programs like this in place in other nations? Why or why not? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 6 John Steinbeck and migrant workers The author John Steinbeck took an interest in the lives of the migrant workers (also called “squatters”) who fled the Dust Bowl regions to look for work in his native California, the setting for most of his writing. Steinbeck drew much of the material for his monumental novel, The Grapes of Wrath, from the true-life stories of these migrant laborers. He wrote: “When in the course of the season a small farmer has need of an influx of migrant workers he usually draws from the squatters’ camps. By small farmer I mean the owner of the five to 100 acre farm, who operates and oversees his own farm. “Farms of this size are the greatest users of labor from the notorious squatter camps. A few of the small farms set aside little pieces of land where the workers may pitch their shelters. Water is furnished, and once in a while a toilet. Rarely is there any facility for bathing. A small farm cannot afford the outlay necessary to maintain a sanitary camp.” Questions: What major problems did migrants face in “squatter camps”? What would you have been willing to sacrifice to find a better life in California? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: John Steinbeck, On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath (Berkley, Calif., Heyday Books, 1936).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 1 Food for defense “By the fall of 1940 the seriousness of the British food situation was revealed. The [German] air blitz was accompanied by a concerted attempt to prevent supplies from reaching England, and the blockade was carried out with effectiveness. By midwinter the British meat ration had been more than halved, and cheese, canned milk, and almost all other foods had been placed on the ration list. If the fall of Britain was to be prevented, the United States might have to supply her with butter as well as guns.” Questions: How did aid from the United States contribute to Britain’s war effort? What resources are we asked to conserve today? Why? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 2C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 2 Lend-lease agreement Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain during WWII, implored President Roosevelt for help during the conflict. In March of 1941, help came in the form of a program called Lend-Lease. It was “An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States” and to help its allies. One of the “defense articles” was any “agricultural” commodity. Questions: How did U.S. agriculture assist the war effort? What types of foods have been researched and developed for today’s military? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: Alfred B. Rollin, Depression, Recovery, and War (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 3 Wartime crops In order to lend support to Britain and other allies, U.S. farmers “were encouraged to make shifts in production from basic crops to some of the special war crops. For example, on April 4, 1941, the Secretary announced that farmers would be permitted to grow peanuts for oil on part of their cotton acreage allotments not used for cotton, without incurring deduction from payments. On June 23, 1941 [about six months before the United States entered the war], farmers were told that they could increase peanut plantings over their allotments if the peanuts were used for oil.” Questions: What motivations did America have for lending aid to Great Britain? What did the United States receive in return? How do you think America would have responded if Germany had asked for aid? Why? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 4 Wartime food supplies ”Most foods require processing before they are ready for consumers. Wartime conditions greatly increased the demand for processed foods of all sorts because the Armed Forces of both the United States and the Allies, and civilian populations abroad, required foods that could be stored and shipped without spoilage in the most concentrated forms practicable. Both farmers and the food trade had to cope with labor, container, and machinery shortages, and sometimes shortages of essential ingredients of the processed product.” Questions: How did scientific research contribute to America’s ability to produce, package, and store such high quantities of food? What are some of the major breakthroughs in food packing research that lead to these practices? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 5 Japanese Americans Many Japanese Americans were involved in agriculture before the United States entered World War II, particularly in California. In February 1942, President Roosevelt ordered that all persons of Japanese ancestry be relocated to camps away from the Pacific coast. This was done out of fears of espionage and to protect Japanese Americans from the growing anti-Japanese sentiment, which rose to irrational levels following the attack on Pearl Harbor. About 120,000 people were affected by this relocation order, most of them U.S. citizens. The camps were located in remote areas where the detainees were often engaged in agriculture and even grew wartime crops. Questions: How can improvising and creativity contribute to success in hard times? Why did the United States send Japanese Americans (many of them successful farmers) to internment camps? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: Gary A. Goreham, ed., Encyclopedia of Rural America: The Land and People (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLSO, 1997).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 6 Victory gardens In December 1941, the USDA helped launch the victory garden program, which encouraged both rural and city people to plant fruits and vegetables. Programs to provide seed, fertilizer, and garden tools were initiated, and many businesses and communities pitched in to provide gardening space. In 1943, more than 20 million victory gardens produced 40 percent of the vegetables grown for fresh consumption. Questions: Why is it important to be self-sufficient? What types of agriculture can individual citizens participate in if they plan carefully? How can you and your family become more self-sufficient in the future? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 1 Soil for freedom In 1939, with the possibility of war on the horizon, Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace cautioned, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the outbreak of hostilities is not a reason for abandoning our efforts to conserve soil.â&#x20AC;? Questions: Why was it important that American farmers continue to conserve soil during the war? What might be the effects of mismanagement of the soil? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1940 (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1940).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 2 Pork prices In 1940, ranchers sold their pork for $5.71 per hundred pounds. In 1941, they sold pork for $9.45 per hundred pounds. Questions: What did the prospect of war do for farming? Why? How can shortages in supply influence price? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S: From Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Commerce, 1975).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 3 Leaving the farm The rural South saw a drastic reduction in population during World War II. As America geared up for war, many people, especially African Americans, traveled north to find jobs at war factories. During the war, rural population in the South declined from 23 percent to 20 percent of the total U.S. population. Questions: Why would so many African American people want to leave farms in the South for factory jobs in the North? Why were the factories in the North? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: Ian Dear, ed., Oxford Companion to World War II (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 4 Rationing scarce resources This poster was distributed to gasoline stations and garages to educate motorists about the need for fuel rationing. During World War II, gasoline, tires, and food items such as meat, sugar, and many canned goods were rationed in order to conserve resources for the war effort. Questions: How would this poster have made you feel about wasting gasoline during the war? What kinds of resources are Americans being asked to conserve today? Why? Do you think some resources should be rationed? Why or why not? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 5 Food and Drug Administration The origins of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can be traced to the assignment of a lone chemist to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862. Thanks to outspoken advocates like Harvey Wiley, USDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief chemist, Congress passed the first federal Food and Drugs Act in 1906, giving the agency regulatory powers to protect Americans from unsafe food and drugs. The FDA remained part of the Department of Agriculture until 1940. Read this history of the FDA and answer the following questions. Questions: Why has the FDA grown from an agency of one to an agency of over nine thousand employees? How is your daily life impacted by the actions of the FDA? How might your life be different without the FDA? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/default.htm

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 6 Modernizing equipment Look at this picture of Ohio farmers spraying raspberries in 1939. Questions: How might technology, such as this early sprayer being used to spray raspberries, have improved the effectiveness and efficiency of farmers in the 1930s and 1940s? What parts of the technology appear modern and which parts are older and more traditional? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 1 The military buys food In 1941, the military purchased 2 percent of the total food produced in the United States. That number continued to increase during World War II and peaked at 14 percent of the food supply by 1944. Questions: How did the military’s increase in purchases benefit farmers? Under what political conditions do you think farm purchases increase the most? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: Harold D. Guither, Heritage of Plenty (Danville, Ill.: Interstate, 1972).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 2 Bracero Program With so many workers leaving the farm to fight or to work in better-paying factory jobs, the United States had a shortage of farm laborers during World War II. To alleviate the shortage, in 1942 the United States and Mexico initiated the bracero (laborer) program, which allowed Mexicans to enter the United States to work as contract laborers. While the program became highly popular among growers, the braceros received low wages and were often treated poorly. By the time the program ended in 1964, more than 5 million Mexicans had come to the United States as braceros. Questions: Why were so many Mexicans willing to come to the United States to work in agriculture? How did they assist the war effort? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: “Expansion and Expulsion,” Immigration, Library of Congress, American Memory [online].

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 3 Forest Service assists the military Visit the Forest Service website and learn how the Forest Service assisted the U.S. military in developing parachute techniques. This knowledge became crucial to the success of the Allies during the invasion of Europe on D-Day, when thousands of American paratroopers jumped into occupied France on June 6, 1944.

Questions: What did the Forest Service do to help the military? What other research or invention has the USDA shared for the benefit of society? Why does the USDA conduct research and share its findings? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/logistics/crews/smokejumpers/about/smkjdevel.html

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 4 Farm technology The growing use of tractors and other machinery, and the addition of new chemical fertilizers and pesticides, revolutionized agriculture. With new and innovative technology, one farmer could do the same work that, just years before, would have required fifteen to twenty workers. Crop yields were increasing substantially. Questions: What was happening on the farm? What effect did this have on the environment? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S: From Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Bureau of Commerce, 1975).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 5 National Wildlife Research Center and WWII â&#x20AC;&#x153;On December 11, 1941, just four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered World War II. The war took part on two separate but interconnected fronts: the military front and the home front.â&#x20AC;? Visit the National Wildlife Research Center, then answer the following questions. Questions: How did scientists at the Wildlife Research Laboratory support U.S. war efforts? How did the war stimulate investigation into new and promising areas of research? What do you think of the recommendations that were made to replace beef? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/about/history/role_wwII.shtml

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 6 The Penicillin Story The ability to mass produce the antibiotic drug penicillin, using methods developed by USDA researchers, became one of the most important scientific contributions during World War II. Read The Penicillin Story at the USDA website and answer the following questions. Questions: Why is teamwork essential to achieving success? How and why did the USDA contribute? Era 8: The Great Depression and World War II, Standard 3C ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/penicillin.htm

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 1 Turning on the juice “Fifty years ago, frozen orange juice was just a flavorless commercial flop. The only orange juice you could get back then was squeezed from fresh oranges, mixed from a relatively tasteless concentrate, or poured from a can--and it tasted like can! “All this at a time when lots of good Florida oranges were going to waste. “Then, in 1946, Louis G. MacDowell, director of research for the Florida Citrus Commission, had an idea. He suggested that adding a little single-strength fresh juice, or ‘cut-back,’ to slightly over concentrated orange juice might restore the flavor and aroma lost during vacuum evaporation. “He took the idea to USDA researchers, the folks with the equipment and expertise to help develop the idea. Not only did it work but also the vastly improved concentrate could be easily frozen. And so began the success story that’s now such a familiar sight on the breakfast table--frozen concentrated orange juice.” Questions: What were the advantages of this new technique for making frozen orange juice over earlier methods? How significant nationally was this improvement in processing and packaging orange juice? What other changes in food processing have changed American life and culture? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 2 Purpose of the G.I. Bill In June 1944, President Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act into law. Commonly known as the G.I. Bill, the act helped military men returning from war go to college, find a job, obtain medical care, buy a home, or start a business or a farm. The bill allowed eligible men to receive loans to help buy “land, buildings, livestock, equipment, machinery, or implements, or in repairing, altering, or improving any buildings or equipment, to be used in farming operations.” Questions: Why were veterans given the opportunity to educate themselves or purchase farms? How would this help the economy over time? Why is the ability to start a farm or to become educated so important to our personal welfare? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A Source: Jerome Agel, ed., The Words That Make America Great (New York: Random House 1997).

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 3 Influence of the G.I. Bill Questions: How did the G.I. Bill help promote education in America? How did the promotion of education influence future USDA research? How has the increase in education enhanced the level of research knowledge? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A Source: “High School Graduates, and College Enrollment and Degrees,” Mini Historical Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau [online].

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 4 The Marshall Plan The Economic Cooperation Act, or Marshall Plan, was a major U.S. foreign aid program to rebuild the war-torn countries of the world after World War II. Visit the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Marshall Plan website and explore this important postwar economic program. Questions: Why did the United States launch the Marshall Plan? How effective was the plan in achieving its goals? Why would a victorious nation like the United States invest so heavily in rebuilding not only its allies, but the nations it had defeated? How would Americans today react to rebuilding a nation that they had defeated in a war? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A usaid.gov/multimedia/video/marshall

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Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 5 Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan was the foreign policy of U.S. Secretary of State, George C. Marshall. He wanted to help encourage peace by rebuilding the agricultural prosperity of war-ravaged countries using American surpluses and technology. Watch this video to learn more about how the Marshall Plan was put into action. Questions: How did the Marshall Plan help Greece? Do you think the Marshall Plan helped Europe recover from the war? Should the United States continue to help war-torn countries? Why or why not? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A Sources: Text adapted from U.S. State Department, U.S. Facts: The Marshall Plan (1947) (online); film The Marshall Plan at Work in Greece, 1950, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Growing a Nation: From Defeat to Victory Lesson 2: 1930-1949, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 6 Wartime Production Watch this film to learn more about the role of agriculture in wartime. Questions: Why is agriculture important during times of war? Who is the intended audience for this film? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A Source: Film Food to Win the War, 1942, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Embedded Resources Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 1 Harry S. Truman On April 12, 1945, following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and after having served only a few months as Vice President, Harry S. Truman became the thirty-third President of the United States. Visit the White House website to learn more about the life of this decisive leader in American history, and then answer the following questions. Questions: How would you have felt if you were thrust into the office of president like Truman? What do you think were the most important decisions made by Truman during his presidency? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ht33.html

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 2 Food for relief With the end of World War II in Europe on May 8, 1945, came the realization of the devastation the war had brought to both the people and the land. Many countries faced food shortages in the years following the war. America’s food and agricultural system rose to the challenge and helped supply Europe with emergency food assistance. “Food production declined during 1945–46 in Europe and North Africa because of drought and difficulties resulting from the war. . . . It became obvious [to the USDA] that grain was the best immediate answer to needs abroad. On February 6, 1946, [President Truman] announced the following nine emergency measures to meet the needs. “1. A vigorous campaign to secure the cooperation of consumers, bakers and retailers in conservation of food, with particular emphasis on bread 2. Discontinuance of the use of wheat in the direct production of alcohol and beer and limitation of the use of other grains for production of . . . alcohol and beer 3. An increase in the wheat flour extraction rate to 80 percent 4. Control of wheat and flour inventories 5. Giving the shipment of essential foods preference in rail use 6. Direct Government control over exports of wheat and flour 7. The export during the calendar year of 375,000 tons of fats and oils, 1.6 billion pounds of meat, and increased quantities of dairy products 8. Release of ships for the movement of food to Europe 9. Development of ways of conserving grain being fed to livestock and poultry for use as human food.” Questions: Why did the United States send relief food and supplies to its former enemies? If you were President of the United States during this time, how would you have answered the world’s call for postwar relief? Does the United States continue to assist war-torn nations today? Why? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1A Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 3 Television in America In the 1950s, television became widely accepted as a news and entertainment medium in the United States. Visit the Federal Communications Commission website to find out more about the history of one of the most pervasive inventions in use today--television. Question: What influence has television had on American culture and economy? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C fcc.gov/omd/history/tv

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 4 Postwar living standards The United States experienced an economic boom after World War II. The above graph illustrates some of the changes that occurred on farms during the 1940s and 1950s, using the number of cars, telephones, and homes with electricity to measure the standard of living. Questions: With all the aid that the United States was sending overseas, how is it that the standard of living for farmers was increasing so rapidly? How would life on the farm change with electricity? Was electricity a luxury or a necessity for farmers? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: History of American Agriculture, 1607â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 5 U.S. demographics, 1940â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1960 The population of the United States increased by 20 million between 1940 and 1950. This decade also saw a decrease of nearly 5 million farmers and 700,000 farms. These changes are charted in the above graph. Questions: Why was the farm population decreasing during these years? How was America able to continue feeding itself and much of the world while having fewer and fewer farms and farmers? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: History of American Agriculture, 1607-2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 1 Korean War “On June 25, 1950, the Republic of Korea was invaded by armed forces from Communist North Korea. The United Nations promptly went to the aid of the invaded nation. Although several countries supported the United Nations with troops and equipment, the major fighting force and its supplies came from the United States. For the next 3 years, this war influenced every aspect of American life, including agriculture. “On July 21, 1950, the President asked the Secretary of Agriculture and other agency heads to undertake a detailed review of programs with a view to lessening the demand upon services, commodities, raw materials, manpower, and facilities in competition with those needed for national defense. One result of the President’s request was that steps were taken in the farm housing program to curtail the use of building materials for nondefense purposes and to prevent Government loans from adding to inflationary pressures.” Questions: What was the cause of U.S. involvement in the Korean War? Why did member countries of the United Nations also become involved? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 2 Dextran Dextran is a substance derived from corn that can be used as a replacement for blood plasma. It was first used during the Korean War, when plasma was in short supply. Dextran offered several advantages over plasma: it could be sterilized, and it could be kept longer without refrigeration. It’s also cheaper than plasma and is derived from cane or beet sugar instead of coming from human blood donors. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the Northern Regional Research Lab in Peoria, Illinois, discovered a way to economically produce dextran in the necessary quantities. The military began using it in 1950, and it was approved for civilian use in 1953. Dextran is still used today. Questions: Why are many important discoveries made during wartime? What are some of the discoveries that have been made as a result of more recent wars? Why does the USDA place a heavy emphasis on research? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 3 Fertilizers: friend or foe? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Department of Agriculture has estimated that increased use of fertilizers accounted for 55 percent of the productivity gains per crop acre that occurred from 1940 to 1955. These triumphs of fertilizer and of other technological improvements had an ironic result. They created huge price-depressing surpluses, which by the 1950s, in combination with insufficient migration from the farm, impoverished large portions of rural America. Only the famine in Europe and the Korean War saved the farmer from depression in the Truman Years.â&#x20AC;? Questions: What were the positive and negative results of fertilizer use in the 1950s? What are the benefits and challenges posed by other research innovations? Do new interventions solve the problems for which they are introduced? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Allen J. Matuson, Farm Policies and Politics in the Truman Years (New York: Atheneum, 1970).

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 4 Abundant crops Agricultural research into the benefits gained from the practice of crop and pasture rotation has proven to be one of the most important ways USDA research has improved agriculture. Researchers proved that rotation helped produce more abundant grasses and crops. The process involved planting corn the first year and wheat the second year, followed by three years of pasture and hay crops. Fields that were rotated yielded 11 percent more crops. Questions: Why does this process help create better crop yields? What purpose does it serve in helping crops to grow? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Walter Yust, ed., 1954 Britannica Book of the Year (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1954).

Growing a Nation: Into Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 5 Water conservation During times of crisis like war and drought, Americans have been asked to conserve valuable resources such as fuel, food, or water. Visit the Tennessee Valley Authority website to learn about water conservation and then answer the following questions. Questions: Why is water conservation important in some areas of the country? Is it important where you live? Why or why not? If it is, what can your family do to conserve water? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C tva.gov/river/watersupply/help.htm

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 6 Soybeans Soybeans provide a wide variety of products for human use. Their development has led to new food products, clothing, cosmetics, and more. Visit the Agricultural Research Service website to learn more about products that are made better with soybeans. Questions: Do any of the products listed come as a surprise to you? What is it about soybeans that makes them so useful? Is it their flavor? Texture? Consistency? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/soy.htm

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 1 1953 drought During the 1950s, the Great Plains and the Southwest experienced a five-year drought characterized by low rainfall and extremely high temperatures. By 1954, the drought affected ten states from the Midwest to the Great Plains, and stretched southward into New Mexico. The drought ended in most areas after the spring rains of 1957. The 1950s drought devastated agriculture in the affected areas. Crop yields in some regions dropped as much as 50 percent, and excessive temperatures and low rainfall dried up grazing lands. Without enough grass for grazing, and with hay prices too high, some ranchers resorted to feeding their cattle a mixture of prickly pear cactus and molasses. The government initiated a feed aid program to help ranchers save their livestock from starvation. Questions: In what ways do droughts and other natural phenomena still affect us today? How can we prepare for such eventualities? How does the government intervene when emergencies such as this occur? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Twentieth Century Drought,â&#x20AC;? North American Drought: A Paleo Perspective, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 2 Rising cost of farming Owning a farm in the 1950s was becoming expensive. In 1940, it cost around $6,622 per year to keep a farm running; in 1952, it was $23,027. Questions: Inflation is one cause of rising prices, but what may some of the other factors have been? Why did farm expenses rise so quickly in this short period of time? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Harold D. Guither, Heritage of Plenty: A Guide to Economic History and Development of U.S. Agriculture (Danville, Ill.: Interstate, 1972).

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 3 Frozen foods The 1950s ushered in a new era of consumerism. New and improved products of all kinds promised to make life easier for consumers. Frozen dinners and other convenience foods were gaining in popularity as more women took on jobs outside the home. From 1948 to1965, USDA scientists worked with the frozen food industry to improve the quality of the products. USDA research focused on how time and temperature affected various frozen foods in terms of quality and stability. The work of the USDA scientists helped greatly improve the quality of frozen foods and boosted this multibillion-dollar industry. Questions: What social factors were playing a part in more women joining the workforce? How do you think communication technologies such as television might have played a role? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: National Agricultural Library [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 4 Cooperatives Farmer cooperatives have long been a way for farmers to band together to improve their economic conditions. Farmers can cooperate to maximize their purchasing power, obtain credit, market their products, and lobby for political change. Visit the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives website to learn how cooperatives help to increase farm wealth.

Questions: How did cooperatives in the 1950s gain competitive power? If you were a small farmer, would it be hard to compete against a cooperative? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C ncfc.org/about-ncfc/about-co-ops

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 5 Large mechanized farms Throughout rural America, modern, mechanized, commercial farms were better able to maximize the economies of scale that the new and expensive technologies offered, and they began to replace smaller, family-owned farms. Cooperatives between smaller farms were one way these farmers could compete in the emerging commercialized farm economy. Cooperatives allowed members to pool resources to jointly buy new machinery and to market their products as a group. Questions: What advantages did large farms have over small farms? How do these advantages reflect the current practices of farming corporations? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 6 The mechanical cotton picker Until World War II, cotton farming remained unmechanized. Plowing, cultivating, and harvesting were done by backbreaking labor. Although the U.S. Patent Office granted a patent for a mechanical cotton picker in 1850, it took nearly one hundred years to perfect a machine that would truly revolutionize cotton growing. In 1895, August Campbell received a patent on a spindle-type cotton picker. In the 1930s, brothers John and Mack Rust improved upon the spindle design and produced an effective picker. While the Rust brothers were working on their machine, International Harvester Company began experimenting with cotton pickers based on Campbellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design in the 1920s, and introduced the first commercial machines in the early 1940s. The John Deere Company introduced a stripper-type harvester in the 1930s. By 1962, about 40 percent of American cotton was picked by spindle-type pickers and 15 percent by stripping machines. Questions: New inventions are conceptualized, funded, and marketed constantly across the entire world. What organizations encourage innovation? Why do they support it? What advantages does a person who can innovate bring to an organization? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Donald Holley, Mechanical Cotton Picker, EH.Net Encyclopedia [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 1 Farming in Russia “Russian farmers didn’t have reasonable incentives to work hard or be efficient. Nikita Khrushchev, the communist leader of Russia in the fifties, told a story of meeting a farmer in Russia. He said: “’Tell me,’ I asked, ‘what’s your best crop here?’ “’Oats.’ “I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew that the soil on this collective farm was so sandy it was barely arable. ‘Are you trying to tell me you get high yield of oats around here?’ “’No, we get a very low yield.’ “’Then why do you say oats is your best crop?’ “’Because it’s the easiest to harvest.’ “This man’s cynicism stemmed from a lack of material incentive. His salary was completely independent of how much his farm produced.” Questions: How is farming in America different? What incentives did a farmer have for producing more commodities? What motivates farmers to continue to improve their livelihood? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Nikita Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament (Boston: Little, Brown, 1974).

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 2 Communism Ezra Taft Benson, Secretary of Agriculture from 1953 to 1960, described some of the differences between the United States and Russia during the Cold War: “In Russia some 48 million persons are working in agriculture about 45 percent of their total labor force compared with ten percent in the United States. Yet they worry about scarcities while we are concerned with over-abundance.” Questions: What are the primary principles of Communism that produce results such as these? How does a free market economy promote competition, innovation, and personal wealth? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Ezra Taft Benson, The Red Carpet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962).

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 3 Forgotten War The Korean War, also known as the “Forgotten War,” ended in 1953. The Korean War was one of America’s first conflicts against Communism during the period known as the Cold War, which effectively ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Questions: Why is the Korean War known as the “Forgotten War”? What other events were prime concerns for America that may have overshadowed the war? Can important historical events be upstaged by others? Why does this happen? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 4 Secretary Benson On November 4, 2003, Secretary Ann M. Veneman celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson’s tenure under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. “’One of the first things he did was reorganize the Department, getting closer to the notion of today’s mission areas,’ Veneman said. ‘For instance, he moved the Agriculture Conservation Program out of the Production and Marketing Administration and into the Soil Conservation Service, or what is now the Natural Resources Conservation Service. “’Secretary Benson oversaw the creation of the Foreign Agricultural Service, and we celebrated its 50th anniversary on this Patio just this year, earlier this year, as well. He established the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Agricultural Research Service. He helped create the Soil Bank to put production and demand in better line and promoted basic conservation,’ she said. “’In the landmark year of 1956, the Conservation Reserve Program came into existence as part of the Soil Bank Act, later followed by the Acreage Reserve. That was also the year that the Rural Development Program began. Secretary Benson expanded agricultural exports and a purchase program to remove excess commodities from the markets, and he helped to oversee the beginning of the surplus disposal program in international markets that became Public Law 480, named Food for Peace by President Eisenhower. “’When he left office, he was asked about his work on behalf of American agriculture. After all the policy and legislative debates, after serving a President for two terms, after meeting with countless foreign leaders, he said his work as a county agent gave him the greatest satisfaction. Helping boys and girls grow up to be good farmers and good citizens, he said, assisting neighbors to improve their fields, their livestock, their marketing, and their homes. Those words speak volumes about Ezra Taft Benson,’ Veneman said.” Questions: How will you be honored fifty years from now by those who have never met you? What does it take to live a life that earns this type of respect? On what guiding principles will you base your life? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “Ezra Taft Benson,” USDA News, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 5 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Prospects for Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture during the Eisenhower administration. Watch this film to learn his views on how to make American agriculture successful. Questions: Why is Secretary Benson optimistic about the future of American agriculture? What does he say can help farmers be more prosperous? What does Benson think are the important qualities of American farmers? Do you think agriculture has an effect on the peace and prosperity of nations? Why or why not? Source: Film Secretary Benson’s New Year Message, 1955, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Milk Milk has been offered as part of school lunch programs since 1946. Watch this film to learn more about the government’s efforts to increase milk consumption. Questions: Who do you think is the audience for this film? What are the similarities and differences between school age children in the early ’50s and now, as apparent from this film? Why have the government and nutritionists encouraged people, especially children, to drink more milk? How did milk surpluses affect this program? How often do you get milk at school? May you take more than one? Source: Film More Milk for More Children, undated, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 1 Klamath weed Klamath weed, known commonly as St. John’s Wort, is a highly invasive plant native to Eurasia that crowds out native plant species and is toxic to livestock. In 1946, the USDA released 5,000 Chrysolina quadriggemina beetles as biological controls against Klamath weed. This represented the first successful attempt in the United States to control a weed with a plant-eating insect. During the 1950s and 1960s, the beetle, which became known as the Klamath beetle, helped to eradicate Klamath weed infesting one-sixth (around 2,300,000 acres) of California. Questions: What advantages are there for introducing biological controls? In what other situations could biological controls be used? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 2 DEET USDA scientists developed the widely used and highly effective insect repellent DEET for the armed forces during the 1950s. “Today, DEET continues to be the most widely used insect repellent in the world, available in a number of consumer products that come in varying concentrations and forms, including gels, aerosol and pump sprays, sticks and lotions.” Questions: Many inventions and innovations are developed for military use and then transferred to the consumer market. What are some examples of these products? How are they transferred to consumers? How does the military encourage development of products that will be beneficial to the armed forces? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Rosalie Marion Bliss, “USDA-DOD Research Initiative to Protect U.S. Military,” Agricultural Research Magazine, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 3 Eisenhower: foreign and domestic policy “Eisenhower did not want to roll back history, junking federal policies that in his view had proven successful. As he told his brother Edgar during an unguarded moment, ‘Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.’ He was in fact willing to strengthen those federal programs that had good track records and even to introduce new measures on a selective basis. But at the same time, he wanted to prune programs such as those in public power and agricultural subsidies, whose costs he thought far outweighed their benefits to the nation. If successful, he would slow and perhaps even stop the growth of the administrative state. This was his concept of the Middle Way. “Eisenhower’s effort to stem the expansion of the federal government was one in a long series of such forays that began with the end of the New Deal in the late 1930s. “Since 1952 American voters have elected relatively conservative Republican presidents in six of the ten elections, and while Congress has often been a Democratic preserve, a loose coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans has dampened many of the efforts to extend federal power. “Eisenhower’s presidency was part of this much broader political epic played out against the backdrop of the Cold War. In dealing with that struggle, Eisenhower was intensely committed to the policy of containing communism by deploying economic and military aid, by forming defensive alliances, and by threatening to exercise--and when all else failed, by exercising--U.S. military power. “The president, his advisers, and key congressional leaders cooperated in keeping the containment strategy viable. The presidents who followed would have similar opportunities. Some would come dangerously close to losing a grip on containment. But in the 1980s that policy would finally achieve its primary goal. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union brought to a sudden and stunning close that long phase of world diplomacy and seems to have vindicated Eisenhower’s successful efforts to preserve the Western Alliance and wait out its communist adversaries. “Eisenhower’s role in these two historical transitions helps explain the astonishing change that has taken place in scholarly evaluations of his presidency. Contemporary appraisals of the Eisenhower presidency were for the most part critical. The administration’s domestic policy in particular aroused criticism, as did the Eisenhower style of leadership. Many of the White House initiatives had a negative tone after all, the main thrust of the Middle Way was to stop the growth of the federal government, a policy that was not likely to bring scholars out of their seats cheering.” Questions: Why was Eisenhower confident in the eventual collapse of European Communism? What motivations did he have for being cautious about cutting farm programs? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Louis Galambos and Daun van Ee, “A President’s First Term: Eisenhower’s Pursuit of ‘the Middle Way,’” Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 4 Pesticide Safety In the 1940s, pesticides were among the innovations science brought to agriculture to control crop losses due to insects, disease, and weeds. These new human-made pesticides were chemicals that farmers had not used before, and they needed instruction about how to use them safely. Watch this 1960s film about pesticide safety and consider the following questions. Questions: Why do people use pesticides? Why is it important to be careful with pesticides? Will using twice the recommended dosage of pesticides or a medicine to kill or cure provide better results? What can happen to people and their environment if they use too much pesticide or apply it improperly? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Film Safe Use of Pesticide, 1963, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 5 Agricultural Research Service Since the establishment of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1862, research had been one of its major functions, but it had been carried out by numerous separate bureaus and agencies. During a major reorganization of the USDA, the department placed all of its research activities under one agency by establishing the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) on November 2, 1953. Visit the ARS website to learn about current agricultural research. Questions: Why would the USDA create an entire organization that focuses solely on agricultural research? How does the ARS obtain funding for its research? What type of agricultural research would you like to see the ARS undertake? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C ars.usda.gov/aboutus/aboutus.htm

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 6 Interstate Highway System People traveling in the United States today may find it difficult to imagine our country without the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Our national highway system came about largely due to the efforts of President Eisenhower. As a young army officer, Eisenhower traveled cross-country during the 1919 Transcontinental Convoy, where he first saw the need and potential advantages of an interstate road system. Later, when Eisenhower served as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II, he was impressed by the ease of travel on the German autobahn highway system. He saw the benefits a multilane highway system would have in building a strong national defense. As President, Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act on June 29, 1956, which created the interstate system we rely on today. Questions: How did the building of interstate highways help unite the country? What value does America’s freeway system add to the nation? To the economy? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956,” The Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 1 USAID The United States has a long history of providing emergency food assistance to foreign countries following natural disasters and wartime famines. In 1954, President Eisenhower laid the foundation for a permanent U.S. food assistance program by signing Public Law 480 into law. This law, still in effect today, allows the government to send American farm surpluses abroad to help countries facing food shortages. President Eisenhower said, “Food can be a powerful instrument for all the free world in building a durable peace.” Questions: Do you think food relief can enhance the possibilities for world peace? What events demonstrate that violence can occur when food is scarce? Do other countries provide aid to less fortunate countries? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Celebrating Food for Peace, 1954–2004, U.S. Agency for International Development [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 2 President Eisenhower When President Eisenhower was criticized for his farm programs, his brother wrote him a letter, saying, “I am sick of paying the farmer money for his product, wasting that product, and then paying him a higher price for what he puts in the market!” Like many other critics of the government’s farm programs, Eisenhower’s brother argued that Americans were basically paying farmers to overproduce and then further subsidizing farmers by paying artificially high prices instead of letting supply and demand determine the price of farm products. Questions: What was the purpose of the government’s active support of farming? How does this role affect those who don’t live in rural areas? Is it possible that the government helps farmers too much? Not enough? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years: Mandate for Change, 1953–1956 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1963).

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 3 Insecticides As the result of wartime research, new highly effective insecticides became available following World War II. These insecticides were widely adopted during the 1950s to combat insect pests, such as many species of grasshoppers that are destructive to agricultural crops. “In some parts of the West, grasshoppers, which seem so harmless when they leap out of sight at our presence, can reach population densities that might seem supernatural. “While they’re a food source for many wildlife and bird species, grasshoppers, at times, can number in the hundreds of millions in states like Colorado, Wyoming, and California. At outbreak densities, they gobble up valuable forage from rangelands used by livestock and compete with wildlife on native grasslands. Damage from the insect--which can eat half its weight in a day--can reach $390 million a year.” Questions: Who should bear the burden of responsibility for taking care of insect and other problems? What else do you think the government should do to assist farmers? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “Homing in on Hopper Hordes!” Agricultural Research Magazine (October 2004), U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 4 Plant physiologists “A plant physiologist studies the life processes in plants. Plants look like they basically just sit there in the soil. But they can be very busy with photosynthesis, taking in carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen, and responding to light, temperature, moisture, insect pests and chemicals to name only a very few. A plant physiologist might specialize in one particular process or become an expert in one particular plant.” Questions: Why do some scientists devote their life’s work to understanding just one process or plant? What kind of dedication does it take to become an expert in a field of study? Why are plant experts valuable to the USDA and the agriculture industry? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “Definition of a ‘Plant Fizz,’” Agricultural and Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 5 Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office as the thirty-fourth American President in January of 1953. He brought with him the tremendous stature and leadership skills he had earned as the former Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II. Visit the White House’s website to read his brief biography, then answer the following questions. Questions: What was President Eisenhower’s campaign slogan? Why did it appeal to most Americans? How do you think President Eisenhower’s former career as a professional soldier contributed to his success as President? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/de34.html

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 6 Screwworm The screwworm is a fly that lays its eggs in wounds on living animals. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the flesh of the animal, causing infections and sickness. Until the 1950s, the only way to control screwworms was with the use of pesticides, but this was not very effective, and livestock producers were losing millions of dollars each year because of the screwworm. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service found a way to eliminate screwworms by using radiation to prevent them from reproducing. This exterminated the screwworm population in the United States, and the USDA encouraged Mexico and some Central American nations to use the same method, protecting the U.S. from being reinfected. Watch this 1970s film to learn more about the life cycle of screwworms. Questions: What is the purpose of this film? Why was it important to eliminate the screwworm in America? Are invasive species a problem today? Sources: Text adapted from USDA APHIS News and Info: Screwworm, February 2002 (online); film The Screwworm, excerpt 2, c. 1975, courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agricultural Research Service, available on CD-ROM STOP Screwworms: Selections from the Screwworm Eradication Collection, Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, April 2000.

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 1 Food for Peace President Kennedy renamed Public Law 480 the “Food-for-Peace” program. For more than fifty years, this food assistance program has helped hundreds of countries and hundreds of millions of people in need. One author wrote: “Shipments under Public Law 480 averaged nearly $1.5 billion annually in the Kennedy years. This assistance not only played a notable humanitarian role in averting mass starvation in India, Egypt, Algeria and other nations but the use of food as wage carried it beyond a relief program to serve, in effect, as a means of financing development.” Questions: How could U.S. agriculture help other countries develop? How was food used as “wage” in these struggling countries? Is it right that America provides food to the world? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1965).

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 2 John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy became the thirty-fifth President on January 20, 1961. Just three years later, on November 22, 1963, he was shot and killed. Visit the White House’s website to read a brief biography, and then answer the following questions. Questions: Why did John Kennedy’s assassination have such a profound impact on Americans? Why does his legacy continue in America? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 3 Food stamp benefits Below is a list of the things food stamp recipients may or may not buy using food stamps. Households may use food stamp benefits to buy foods for the household to eat, such as: --breads and cereals --fruits and vegetables --meats, fish, and poultry --dairy products --seeds and plants that produce food for the household to eat. Households may not use food stamp benefits to buy: --beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, or tobacco --pet foods --soaps, paper products, and household supplies --vitamins and medicines --food that will be eaten in the store --hot foods.

Questions: How do you think the USDA determined which products would be eligible for purchase through the food stamp program? Do you think that all foods should be eligible for purchase through the program? Why or why not? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “Food Stamp Program: Frequently Asked Questions,” Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 4 Women, infants, and children “The mission of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk. WIC provides nutritious foods to supplement diets, nutrition education, and referrals to health care and other social services. Administered by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), the program has grown rapidly since 1972. “Almost half of all infants and about one-quarter of all children 1-4 years of age in the United States now participate. WIC accounts for almost 12 percent of total Federal spending on food and nutrition assistance.”

Question: Why has the government assumed responsibility to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “The WIC Program,” Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 5 Unemployment rates This graph shows unemployment rates from 1970 through 2000. Questions: What trends do you see in this graph? How many individuals and families are represented by these trends? What responsibility does the government have for aiding those who are affected by unemployment? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Economagic.com [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 6 School Lunch Watch this film to learn more about the school lunch program in the “space age.” Questions: Why do you think the USDA and Congress created the school lunch program? How does the program affect American agriculture, the economy, and nutrition? Would you rather eat school lunch or bring lunch from home? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Film School Lunch, undated, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 1 Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson, the thirty-sixth President of the United States, served from 1963 to 1969. Visit the White House’s website to read a brief biography, and then answer the following questions. Questions: What do you think are the most important accomplishments of the Johnson administration? What aspects of President Johnson’s life are most interesting to you? Why? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 3B whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/lyndonbjohnson

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 2 The Great Society After visiting the From Revolution to Reconstruction website and reading about President Johnson and the Great Society, answer the following questions. Questions: Why was President Johnson’s program called “the Great Society”? How great was the “Great Society”? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1994/ch12_p2.htm

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 3 Making fabrics friendly ”With the cessation of World War II, cotton markets were being usurped by synthetics. The marketing war’s opening round was the advent of rayon strong enough for use in tire cords. Soon tire makers began switching from cotton to its lower priced competitor, dispossessing growers of an annual market for 1 million bales of cotton. “Another inroad into cotton markets followed the introduction of men’s shirts made of synthetic fibers that needed little or no ironing. Concurrently, nylon was laying siege to markets for women’s garments and for many household items that cotton had traditionally filled. “ARS [Agricultural Research Service] chemists and engineers at the Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans, along with colleagues in industry, launched a broad-based research campaign to close the gap. Before long, progress in research began to bolster cotton’s competitive position. “A series of basic discoveries involving resins resulted in cotton fabrics that behaved like synthetics when washed and hung to dry, yet retained such desirable qualities as comfort and resistance to soiling. Work in laboratories was further accelerated at about this time when major shirt makers raised their research budgets on learning that many people considered synthetic shirts to be wanting in comfort. “From this effort of the 1950’s came the first wash-and-wear cotton shirts that required only touch-up ironing. Next came shirts, pants, and other clothing made from a new blend of 35 percent cotton with 65 percent synthetics. These garments had permanent creases and, after washing and either tumble- or drip-drying, required no ironing. “But the New Orleans scientists refused to settle for shirts, underwear, and sportswear limited to only 35 percent cotton. Contending that garments of all cotton were more durable than those made from the blend, they stepped up their efforts. They succeeded. Since 1965 consumers have been able to buy all-cotton shirts that are durable yet look newly pressed after repeated launderings and dryings. “The key to making cotton wash-and-wear or durable press, as it is now called is to treat it with a chemical solution which reacts with the long molecules that compose cotton fiber. The treatment ‘crosslinks’ or ties the molecules together so that the fabric will dry smooth after laundering. Today durable-press textiles are providing an annual market for an estimated 2.5 million bales of cotton that otherwise would not be sold. “But durable-press cottons account for only a part of the New Orleans lab’s total textile research program. Over the years researchers there have created a succession of processes and products. These include a host of new finishing and crosslinking agents to make fabrics last longer and resist wrinkling, soiling, and damage by bleaches weatherresistant canvases for such varied products as tents, tarpaulins, and beach umbrellas and flame-retardant fabrics for clothing for fire fighters and foundry workers, bed linens for hospitals and institutions, and linings for high-pressure chambers for nursing blue babies after surgery. “All these and many other research achievements have helped win markets for cotton. To the general public, however, the towering triumph in textile research undoubtedly is durable-press cotton. It is liberating the masses from countless hours of drudgery at the ironing board.” Questions: Why do you think USDA scientists spend resources to find better natural fiber fabrics? Do you think it is important for scientists to perform such research? Why or why not? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “Milestones in ARS Research,” Agricultural Research Magazine, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 4 Rural poverty This graph shows that the number of Americans living in poverty is greater in rural areas than in urban areas. Questions: Why do you think there is more poverty in rural areas than urban areas? What should or can be done to lessen poverty in rural areas? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Rural Poverty at a Glance, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 5 SuperSlurper ”Starch is the main constituent of grain flours, and the most plentiful starch is cornstarch. Although most of the products from corn milling go into food and feed, 4.5 billion pounds of starch are annually produced, largely for nonfood purposes. Of this amount, 3.5 billion pounds are used in the paperboard, paper, and related industries, where starch serves both as an adhesive and a coating. “And new uses for cornstarch continue to surprise us. For example, when ARS scientists married starch to a synthetic chemical, they managed to create a product so thirsty, it could absorb hundreds of times its own weight in water. Someone called it SuperSlurper, and the name stuck. “After patents were secured in 1976, SuperSlurper started popping up all over the marketplace. The absorbent compound, which can slurp up to 2,000 times its weight in water, is used as an electrical conductor in batteries. You can find it in fuel filters, baby powders, and wound dressings. Compounds very much like it are now used in disposable diapers and sanitary napkins.” Questions: How has your life been affected by the SuperSlurper invention? What other agricultural inventions have impacted your life? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 6 Caesar Chavez Caesar Chavez was a Mexican immigrant who became a political activist with the goal of improving the lives of migrant agricultural workers. Watch this film to learn more about his efforts. Questions: What made Chavez a good leader? What problems face immigrant workers today? What contributions do Mexican immigrants make to our nation and economy? What are some of the methods immigrants have used to try to improve their conditions? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: Film Vision USA, No. 82, 1979, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 1 Earth Day The first Earth Day was organized in 1970 as a way to encourage people around the world to celebrate the Earth and to remind all people of their responsibility to care for the Earth. Visit the Earth Day Network website to learn more about this organization. Questions: How do celebrations such as Earth Day help bring about important change and progress? What can you do to help protect and conserve the Earth’s resources? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C www.earthday.org/about

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 2 Environmental Protection Agency At the request of President Richard M. Nixon, Congress established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on December 2, 1970. The EPA’s mission includes:. “The establishment and enforcement of environmental protection standards consistent with national environmental goals. . . . The conduct of research on the adverse effects of pollution and on methods and equipment for controlling it[,] the gathering of information on pollution and the use of this information in strengthening environmental protection programs and recommending policy changes . . . assisting others, through grants, technical assistance and other means, in arresting pollution of the environment . . . assisting the Council on Environmental Quality in developing and recommending to the President new policies for the protection of the environment.”

Questions: Why was it important for President Nixon to establish the Environmental Protection Agency? How does the EPA affect your life? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C Source: “How and When Was the EPA Created?” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 3 Rachel Carson April 2002 marked the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book, Silent Spring. With its publication, Carson helped launch the environmental movement. Visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website to learn more about her life and contributions. Questions: Why were Rachel Carson’s views so controversial for so long? What impact does her writing continue to have today? Era 9: Postwar United States, Standard 1C rachelcarson.fws.gov/carsonbio.html

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 4 Clean Water Act “Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. As amended in 1977, this law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act. The Act established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States. It gave EPA the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. The Clean Water Act also continued requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. The Act made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions. It also funded the construction of sewage treatment plants under the construction grants program and recognized the need for planning to address the critical problems posed by nonpoint source pollution. “Subsequent enactments modified some of the earlier Clean Water Act provisions. Revisions in 1981 streamlined the municipal construction grants process, improving the capabilities of treatment plants built under the program. Changes in 1987 phased out the construction grants program, replacing it with the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund, more commonly known as the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. This new funding strategy addressed water quality needs by building on EPA-State partnerships. “Over the years, many other laws have changed parts of the Clean Water Act. Title I of the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990, for example, put into place parts of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, signed by the U.S. and Canada, where the two nations agreed to reduce certain toxic pollutants in the Great Lakes. That law required EPA to establish water quality criteria for the Great Lakes addressing 29 toxic pollutants with maximum levels that are safe for humans, wildlife, and aquatic life. It also required EPA to help the States implement the criteria on a specific schedule.” Questions: Why was it important for the U.S. Congress to establish the Clean Water Act? Do you think there is a need today for a Clean Water Act in America? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1A Source: “Clean Water Act History,” Laws and Regulations, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 5 Tracking the elusive viroid Research in the 1960s and 1970s produced many interesting results. One was the discovery of a small viruslike organism eighty times smaller than a virus. Named a “viroid” by USDA scientist Theodor O. Diener, who first found it, the discovery of this entirely new pathogen helped scientists better understand diseasecausing organisms. Questions: How can agriculture benefit from intensive research? How would you feel if your crop were being attacked by an unknown disease? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1A htars.usda.gov/is/timeline/viroid.htm

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 6 The War on Hunger Orville Freeman, Secretary of Agriculture under President Johnson, speaks about hunger in this late 1960s film. Throughout history, many people in developing countries have gone hungry, even while other nations have an agricultural surplus. Many wealthy countries have tried different strategies to help those who are hungry. Watch this film to hear one opinion on how America should help other nations. Questions: What factors can lead to food shortages? What role should America play in helping developing nations? Do you agree or disagree with Secretary Freeman? Is it better to give people food or to teach them to grow their own? How does this decision affect the American economy and trade? Source: Film War on Hunger, 1968, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 1 Richard Nixon Richard Nixon was sworn in as the thirty-seventh President in January 1969. Although his administration accomplished much, the Watergate scandal overshadowed the presidency and eventually led to Nixon’s resignation. Visit the White House’s website to read a brief biography of President Richard Nixon, and then answer the following questions. Questions: What do you think are the most important accomplishments of the Nixon administration? What caused the downfall of President Nixon and his administration? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1A whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rn37.html

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 2 Barbara McClintock Barbara McClintock was a brilliant American geneticist and Nobel Laureate. During 1948–1950, McClintock developed a radical theory that answered a fundamental question of genetics: how complex organisms developed different kinds of cells and tissues when each cell in the organism had the same set of genes. In 1983, at the age of eighty-one, Barbara McClintock received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for her discovery of mobile genetic elements,” more than thirty years after first developing her theory. Questions: What was significant about McClintock’s life? What was significant about her achievements? How did the fact that she was a woman affect her career? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1C profiles.nlm.nih.gov/LL

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 3 Food and Nutrition Service “On May 6, 1969, the President sent a message to Congress outlining the problem facing the Nation and making recommendations for action by the Congress and governmental agencies to eliminate hunger and malnutrition and insure a healthful diet for all Americans. The President stated, ‘So accustomed are most of us to a full and balanced diet that, until recently, we have thought of hunger and malnutrition as problems only in far less fortunate counties. “’But in the past few years we have awakened to the distressing fact that despite our material abundance and agricultural wealth, many Americans suffer from malnutrition. Precise factual descriptions of its extent are not presently available, but there can be no doubt that hunger and malnutrition exist in America, and that some millions may be affected. For them, there must be first sufficient food income. But this alone would only begin to address the problem, for what matters finally is what people buy with the money they have. People must be educated in the choosing of proper foods. All of us, poor and non-poor alike, must be reminded that a proper diet is a basic determinant of good health.’ “The President went on to state further, ‘More is at stake here than the health and well-being of 16 million American citizens who will be aided by these programs and the current child food assistance programs. Something very like the honor of American democracy is at issue. . . . America has come to the aid of one starving people after another. But the moment is at hand to put an end to hunger in America itself for all time. I ask this of a Congress that has already splendidly demonstrated its own disposition to act. It is a moment to act with vigor; it is a moment to be recalled with pride.’ “At the President’s direction, the Food and Nutrition Service was created as a new agency within the Department of Agriculture exclusively to administer Federal food programs, including the school lunch program, and other agencies involved were directed to coordinate their activities with those of the Department of Agriculture. “On December 2, 1969, the President reasserted the problem as he addressed the opening plenary session of the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health. He said, ‘Experts can argue --and they do--and you will--about the magnitude of the problem; about how many are hungry, how many malnourished, and how severely they are malnourished. Precise statistical data remain elusive and often contradictory. However, Dr. Arnold Schaefer, the man in charge of the National Nutrition Survey, recently made this cautious but forceful observation: “We have been alerted by recent studies that our population who are malnutrition risks is beyond anticipated findings, and also that in some of our vulnerable population groups--preschool children, the aged, teen-agers, and the poor--malnutrition is indeed a serious medical problem.” We can argue its extent. But hunger exists. We can argue its severity, but malnutrition exists. . . . In a related matter, we already are greatly expanding our school lunch programs, with the target of reaching every needy school child with a free or reduced-cost lunch by the end of the current fiscal year.’ “Various panels of the White House Conference recommended expansion of the school lunch program to the extent that every schoolchild shall have the lunch available to him, and that every needy child shall be provided a lunch (and breakfast under certain circumstances) free or at reduced price when unable to pay the full price.” Questions: Was the government right to expand the school lunch program to every schoolchild? Why or why not? How would your life be different had the school lunch program not been available to you? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1C Source: Gordon W. Gunderson, “The National School Lunch Program Background and Development,” Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online]. Growing a Nation 153 agclassroom.org/gan

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 4 Fewer farms This graph shows the rise and eventual decline in the number of farms in America. Questions: Why do you think the number of farms has been declining? What is happening to America’s farms? How might life in America change as the number of farms continues to decline? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: History of American Agriculture, 1607–2000, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 5 The task of government At the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health, President Richard Nixon said, “The task of government is not to make decisions for you or for anyone. The task of government is to enable you to make decisions for yourself. Not to see the truth of that statement is fundamentally to mistake the genius of democracy.” Questions: Do you agree with his statement? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: Sylvia Rowe, Perspectives for Future Actions, International Food Information Council, National Institute of Health [online].

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 6 Erosion on the decline The rate of soil erosion by water on American farms has been reduced by more than 40 percent since 1982. Questions: How has the soil erosion rate been so greatly reduced over the past several decades? Why is the rate of soil erosion important to America? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: Farm Facts (Washington, D.C.: American Farm Bureau Federation, 2004).

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 1 The Earth’s future This photograph of the Earth rising over the moon was taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft while it orbited the moon in July 1969. Questions: What can you learn about planet Earth from this photograph? What would happen to humankind if we irreparably damaged our planet? From the distance of space, what resources appear to be the most abundant on Earth? How do the resources of our planet compare to the resources found on the moon or other planets orbiting our sun? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1C

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 2 The green revolution “The genes that sparked the Green Revolution came from unprepossessing wheat plants relegated to the ranks of agronomic curiosities. But their short, stiff straw and heavy seed heads caught the eye of ARS agronomist S. Cecil Salmon who was with Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in 1946 helping assess Japan’s postwar agricultural problems. Salmon acquired seeds of 16 different strains including one named Norin No. 10 for the World Small Grain Collection in Beltsville, Md. “Within a year, the Collection processed and distributed the seeds to various U.S. wheat breeders. Some went to ARS-Washington State University breeders in Pullman. The Pullman team, led by ARS plant breeder Orville Vogel, analyzed the seeds’ initial progeny for strengths and weaknesses. Over the next 13 years the scientists made many hybrid crosses and selections. One of the wheat varieties that came out of these efforts was the famed short-strawed Gaines. “While hybridization was underway, Norman E. Borlaug of the International Maize and Wheat Research Centre, Mexico, visited Pullman and was impressed with the short-stalked wheat’s potential. The group shared germplasm with Borlaug who, in turn, crossed it with Mexico’s best wheats. “In 1963 Borlaug responded to an urgent request from the government of India to tour its major wheat-growing regions and provide breeders with lines containing Norin No. 10 dwarfing genes. The tall native wheats had encountered an insurmountable yield barrier. When heavily fertilized with nitrogen, they grew too high, became top-heavy, and lodged. “Borlaug’s semidwarf wheats enabled India to finally launch its Green Revolution. The combination of new genes, fertilizer, and irrigation spurred wheat production from 12 million metric tons in 1965 to over 20 million in 1970 and over 37 million last year. Since the new wheats were broadly …continued on next page

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adapted, Green Revolutions also took hold in countries sharing similar latitudes, such as Pakistan, Turkey, and Afghanistan. For his contributions, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Prize. “Arid regions of India also benefited from a Green Revolution, one based on hybrid pearl millets. But an obstacle to hybridization had to be overcome first because many grasses, including millets, self-pollinate. ARS geneticist Glenn Burton altered pearl millet’s cytoplasm to create the cytoplasmic male-sterile plants that made hybrids possible. In 1961, Burton sent male-sterile millet seeds to India for its breeding programs. By 1965 the Indian scientists developed a new hybrid that out-yielded native varieties by 88 percent. In that year, India produced 3.5 million tons of millet. Just 5 years later, millet production climbed to 8 million tons. That gain in yield accounted for 20 percent of the extra food production in India’s Green Revolution. “Plant breeders rely on the collection and preservation of still-extant germplasm. A major effort is underway to save from extinction not only the seeds of plants now cultivated but also their wild relatives with rich and irreplaceable genetic qualities from resistance to disease and drought to higher yields. A wide variety of genetic material is essential if breeders are to improve and perpetuate the world’s crops. “Two internationally known facilities are maintained by ARS to help foster genetic diversity. The World Small Grain Collection, which can be traced to informal origins in the 1870’s, serves as a ‘working’ collection. It collects, maintains, distributes, and evaluates germplasm to meet the ongoing needs of plant breeders everywhere. At present, the Collection maintains some 102,000 strains of wheat, barley, oats, rice, rye, and triticale. “On the other hand, the National Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL), Fort Collins, Colo., is a ‘base’ collection. It maintains, mostly in cold-storage rooms, over 200,000 separate collections of seed and vegetative stock. Some collections were obtained by expeditions to remote lands. Although the NSSL’s germplasm may duplicate that in working collections, it releases material only when it is not available elsewhere. Its prime mission is to perpetually safeguard germplasm, an ultimate gene bank for the plant breeders working to help feed the world’s burgeoning population.”

Questions: What were some of the small discoveries that ultimately led to the great breakthrough that became the “green revolution”? Do you think the scientists who made each of these small discoveries understood at the time the importance of their work? Why or why not? Why is the work of these scientists referred to as a revolution? What different career fields are mentioned in the story? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1C Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 3 Norman E. Borlaug Visit this website at Tuskegee University and review the article “Ending World Hunger: The Promise of Biotechnology and the Threat of Antiscience Zealotry” by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. In the conclusion to his article, Dr. Borlaug makes the statement and poses the question, “I now say that the world has the technology that is either available or well advanced in the research pipeline to feed a population of 10 billion people. The more pertinent question today is: Will farmers and ranchers be permitted to use this new technology?”

Questions: Why does Dr. Borlaug think farmers and ranchers will not be allowed to use biotechnology to solve world hunger problems? Whom does Dr. Borlaug accuse of being “anti-science”? Why does he disagree with those who would prohibit the use of biotechnology? Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Borlaug’s views? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 1C plantphysiol.org/content/124/2/487.full

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 4 Emergency relief For many decades, the United States has provided emergency relief supplies to other nations during times of crisis through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This photograph shows Red Crescent workers in Sudan bagging green split peas for the people of Darfur, Sudan affected by civil war.

Questions: Why do you think the United States provides supplies to people in areas of the world where conflict is occurring? How might the government’s action in giving food to nations at war impact American agriculture? What impact would it have on American agriculture if poorer nations, currently unable to feed themselves, become successful and efficient producers of food not only for their own people but also for export? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 5 Biodiversity Despite the good that has come from the green revolution, there have also been criticisms of its consequences. Review the information in the article “Agriculture and Genetic Diversity” at the National Biological Information Infrastructure website. Questions: What is biodiversity? How can biodiversity be preserved? How does the definition of sustainable agriculture conflict with the agriculture methods of the green revolution? How might the goals of the green revolution be met through biodiversity? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution

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Growing a Nation: Prosperity & Challenges Lesson 3: 1950-1969, Screen 11, Embedded Resource 6 Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service “CSREES’ unique mission is to advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being, and communities by supporting research, education, and extension programs in the Land-Grant University System and other partner organizations. CSREES doesn’t perform actual research, education, and extension but rather helps fund it at the state and local level and provides program leadership in these areas. “CSREES has 59 targeted areas of interest that are grouped in the following National Emphasis Areas: --Agricultural & Food Biosecurity --Agricultural Systems --Animals & Animal Products --Biotechnology & Genomics --Economics & Commerce --Families, Youth & Communities --Food, Nutrition & Health --Natural Resources & Environment --Pest Management --Plants & Plant Products --Technology & Engineering “CSREES and its partners focus on critical issues affecting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future. The advanced research and educational technologies we support empower people and communities to solve problems and improve their lives on the local level. . “CSREES does its work through an extensive network of state, regional, and county extension offices in every U.S. state and territory. These offices have educators and other staff who respond to public inquiries and conduct informal, noncredit workshops and other educational events. You’re connected to this system which is now 90 years old through your nearest extension office, which provides answers to commonly encountered problems through educational materials (print, video, CD), Web-based information, the telephone, and other means. “With support from more than 600,000 volunteers, 4-H, USDA’s 102-year-old youth development program administered through CSREES engages more than 6.5 million young people every year and teaches them life skills through hands-on learning and leadership activities.” Questions: How might the work of this government agency impact your life? Why is it important that the government fund and support research for agriculture? Why are universities a critical partner for conducting agricultural research that is funded by the government? What areas of research conducted by this agency interest you the most? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “CSREES Background,” Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Embedded Resources Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 1 Agricultural exports In the years between 1975 and 2000, agricultural exports rose sharply. Questions: What foreign and domestic factors influence increases or decreases in exports? How do politics play a part in the availability of food to starving nations? What major imports do American consumers rely on? Are these necessities, or are they products of choice and convenience? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 2 Pesticides Farmers readily adopted new pesticides and herbicides that were developed in the 1970s, which allowed them to capitalize on increased foreign trade with the Soviet Union. Questions: What purpose do pesticides serve? Herbicides? Why do researchers continue to develop and improve these products today? Can you think of any specific pesticides or herbicides that are used in your area? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 3 Why is U.S. agriculture so successful? The success of U.S. agriculture cannot be attributed to fertile soil and ideal growing conditions alone. Financial resources from the government are also vital to the achievements of American agriculture. Research funding, financial aid during poor growth seasons, and education programs are just a few of many examples that have led American farming to agricultural success. Questions: How do government resources contribute to your success as a student? Why are they provided? Why does the government esteem research and education so highly? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 4 The Soviet Union “Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th–15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under Peter I (ruled 1682–1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir Lenin seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef Stalin (1928–53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period.” Questions: How do you think the turmoil that the former Soviet Union has experienced, and is still experiencing, has affected its economy? How would such disarray influence agricultural productivity? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: The World Factbook, 2004, Central Intelligence Agency [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 5 Environmental laws Since President Nixon established the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, Congress has passed dozens of laws that the EPA enforces to protect the environment. Visit the EPA website to help you answer these questions. Questions: What are the three steps to create these laws? How is a regulation different from a law? How many of these environmental laws affect agriculture? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A pa.gov/lawsregs/index.html

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 1, Embedded Resource 6 Soil conservation Fertile soil is one of the most valuable resources America possesses. Thus, soil conservation is a high priority for the USDA. Visit the Natural Resource Conservation Service website to learn more about this priceless natural resource. Questions: Respecting and protecting environmental resources is one of the most valuable things we can do. What are some instances of environmental abuse during your lifetime? What are some instances of environmental abuse that you are aware of from the past? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A nrcs.usda.gov/feature/education/squirm/skworm.html

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 1 Plant geneticist Plant geneticists explore a plant’s genes looking for those that control valuable traits, like tolerance to cold or the size or sweetness of its fruit. They also work to improve breeding methods and to ensure that future generations of a particular plant will have the traits farmers and consumers want. Questions: How can plant gene research influence the size, taste, and color of certain crops? What questions would you research if you were a plant geneticist? Where would you start gathering information? How did plant research help bolster American agriculture during the export boom of the early 1970s? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 2 Hydrologist “If you like discovering how soil and water create our environment, you may be interested in becoming a hydrologist or watershed specialist. Working with a variety of people, problem-solving, and application of some basic chemical concepts make this an interesting occupation. BLM [Bureau of Land Management] hydrologists/watershed specialists work at improving or maintaining water quality by recommending actions to minimize the effects of grazing, mining, logging, and other types of land uses. This involves developing an understanding of these land uses, developing long-term plans, and doing studies to ensure that the plans are successful. These specialists work with range conservationists, outdoor recreation planners, soil scientists, and others to help prepare plans for managing all the resources in a basin or watershed. These specialists must understand plants and soil, rocks and land features, water and weather. Sometimes they are called upon to recommend what kinds of grasses, shrubs, or trees to plant. They may design ponds or structures in streams to slow water and reduce erosion, or develop methods to study human uses of public land to determine if these uses are causing erosion and reducing plant cover for fish. High school courses that will help you prepare for a career as a hydrologist or watershed specialist include math, biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, speech, and English/writing courses. A bachelor’s degree in a physical or natural science or engineering is required. Studies should include courses in hydrology, physical sciences, geophysics, chemistry, engineering science, soils, math, aquatic biology, geology, meteorology, oceanography, or the management or conservation of water resources.”

Questions: What contributions do hydrologists make to our society? How has the work of hydrologists impacted your life? What aspects of preparation for a career in hydrology match the career preparation you need? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Hydrologist,” BLM Career Cards, Bureau of Land Management [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 3 Renewable energy “Renewable energy systems use resources that are constantly replaced and are usually less polluting. Examples of renewable energy systems include solar, wind, and geothermal energy (getting energy from the heat in the earth). We also get renewable energy from trees and plants, rivers, and even garbage. “Renewable energy uses energy sources that are continually replenished by nature--the sun, the wind, water, the Earth’s heat, and plants. Renewable energy technologies turn these fuels into usable forms of energy--most often electricity, but also heat, chemicals, or mechanical power. . . . “Today we primarily use fossil fuels to heat and power our homes and fuel our cars. It’s convenient to use coal, oil, and natural gas for meeting our energy needs, but we have a limited supply of these fuels on the Earth. We’re using them much more rapidly than they are being created. Eventually, they will run out. And because of safety concerns and waste disposal problems, the United States will retire much of its nuclear capacity by 2020. In the meantime, the nation’s energy needs are expected to grow by 33 percent during the next 20 years. Renewable energy can help fill the gap. “Even if we had an unlimited supply of fossil fuels, using renewable energy is better for the environment. We often call renewable energy technologies ‘clean’ or ‘green’ because they produce few if any pollutants. Burning fossil fuels, however, sends greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping the sun’s heat and contributing to global warming. Climate scientists generally agree that the Earth’s average temperature has risen in the past century. If this trend continues, sea levels will rise, and scientists predict that floods, heat waves, droughts, and other extreme weather conditions could occur more often. “Other pollutants are released into the air, soil, and water when fossil fuels are burned. These pollutants take a dramatic toll on the environment--and on humans. Air pollution contributes to diseases like asthma. Acid rain from sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides harms plants and fish. Nitrogen oxides also contribute to smog. “Renewable energy will also help us develop energy independence and security. The United States imports more than 50 percent of its oil, up from 34 percent in 1973. Replacing some of our petroleum with fuels made from plant matter, for example, could save money and strengthen our energy security.” Questions: Which of the renewable energy resources seem most viable to you? What do you see as the major advantage of this resource? What are its disadvantages? What do you think the United States should do to increase its use of renewable resources? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Learning about Renewable Energy--For Young Scholars” and “Renewable Energy: An Overview,” Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 4 OPEC The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is currently made up of eleven countries. Visit the OPEC website to learn about these countries and find out where they are located. Questions: What purpose does membership with OPEC serve? What would happen if one of the oil-exporting countries were to withdraw its membership from OPEC? Are there any other countries that possess oil as a natural resource? Why are they not members of OPEC? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A www.opec.org

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 5 The Panama Canal Treaty On September 7, 1977 President Jimmy Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaty that would turn control of the canal over to Panama in 1999 and guarantee the canalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neutrality. Take a time-lapse journey through the canal and answer the following. Questions: In terms of trade, how important is it for the Panama Canal to remain neutral? How is shipping affected by energy costs? Do you think President Carter made a good decision signing this treaty? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A youtube.com/watch?v=-vi19z4LEi0

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 2, Embedded Resource 6 Farmer for the World America enjoys an agricultural surplus, and often exports its products to other countries that do not have enough food. Some believe that America should teach other nations how to produce their own food instead of supplying them with American surpluses. Others feel that America should continue to produce surpluses for export. Watch this late 1960s film and consider the following questions. Questions: Which opinion does this film support about American exports? Who is the intended audience for this film? How do you think America should respond to food shortages in other countries? Why do people have differences of opinion on this issue? Source: Film Farmer for the World, 1968, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 1 Agricultural exports The low value of the American dollar in the 1970s increased opportunities for agricultural exports. Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farmers could boast that they fed the world as the economy depended more and more on trade overseas. Questions: Do Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farmers still feed the world today? Do American agricultural exports still exceed its imports? From what country does the majority of U.S. imports come today? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 2 Oil prices High oil prices in the 1970s led to significant strides in harnessing natural resources for energy. Visit the Energy Information Administration’s website to see a chronological history of oil prices since 1970, and then answer the following questions. Questions: How can political turmoil lead to downfalls in one industry, allowing research and development to progress in other industries at the same time? How do we see this pattern still happening today? What industries do you predict will experience further expansion in your lifetime? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A eia.gov/forecasts/steo/realprices

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 3 Soil scientist “Laboratory studies of hydraulics and erosion that result from raindrop splash and shallow flow can be used to test and improve WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) equations. Here, agricultural engineer Dennis Flanagan and soil scientist Stanley Livingston use a green dye to measure flow velocity and observe runoff patterns resulting from simulated rainfall.” A soil scientist seeks to understand how soils form and their basic qualities or properties. For example, soils differ from place to place in part because they contain different ratios of clay, silt, and sand. This can affect which plants can grow, how well they can grow, and what farmers may need to do differently to get the best results. Questions: What is the advantage to the U.S. government of employing soil scientists? What recent research has been done involving soil and its properties? What happens to soil when too many chemical fertilizers are used? When it’s overused? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “News and Events,” Agricultural Resource Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 4 Foot and mouth disease “Foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have occurred several times in the United States, the last time being in 1929. Each outbreak brought somber scenes of eradication based upon the costly strategy of shooting and burying all infected and exposed animals. Subsequently, the United States cooperated with Mexico in eradicating two major outbreaks there. “But North America’s livestock industry can never relax its vigilance. The FMD virus lurks in many herds around the world, making accidental introduction a constant threat. The expectation of someday conquering FMD was raised in 1975 by news from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center--an isolated, maximum security research facility off the coast of Long Island, N.Y. ARS researchers there had discovered that injection of a protein derived from a portion of the coating of FMD virus and called VP3, confers immunity to the disease. However, methods then available for mass-producing a VP3 vaccine were not economically feasible. “In 1980 the Plum Island scientists turned to another route to develop a safe and inexpensive vaccine[:] recombinant DNA technology. The USDA team was led by biochemist Howard L. Bachrach and collaborated with scientists from Genentech, a private research company. The researchers inserted a bioengineered plasmid containing the gene for VP3 into Escherichia coli bacteria. As these bacteria grew, they obeyed orders from the guest DNA and mass-produced the desired VP3 proteins. In 1981 the scientists reached their goal: a VP3 vaccine was produced that did not make either infectious virus or infectious RNA. “The Plum Island research achievement now enables the U.S. to produce and hold a ready supply of FMD vaccine for emergency use. Equally important, the vaccine can be stored indefinitely without refrigeration, a boon to countries that rely on vaccination to control FMD.” Questions: What are some of the symptoms of foot and mouth disease? How do outbreaks occur? Would a vaccine for this disease help to increase or decrease livestock exports to other countries? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 3, Embedded Resource 5 USDA researchers During the 1970s, USDA plant scientists introduced numerous improved fruit, vegetable, cotton, and wheat varieties that enhanced the American farmer’s place in the global marketplace. Visit this USDA website to learn more about the USDA’s citrus development program, and then answer the following questions.

Questions: Why is the development of improved fruit varieties so valuable to domestic and foreign markets? What foods in your kitchen were developed through USDA’s research efforts? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/citrus.htm

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 1 Improved irrigation systems In 1981, scientists developed a new irrigation method called cablegation. “Cablegation is a gated-pipe system in which a moveable plug is allowed to slowly pass through a long section of gated pipe, with the rate of movement controlled by a cable and brake. Due to the oversizing and required slope of the pipe, water flow will gradually cease flowing into the first rows irrigated after the plug has progressed sufficiently far down the pipe. Improved water management is achieved by varying the speed of the plug, which controls the timing of water flows into each furrow.” Questions: What advantages for farmers would there be in an irrigation system that improved water management? What advantage, if any, would there be in this farm technology for ordinary Americans? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Irrigation and Water Use: Glossary,” Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 2 Agricultural exports Examine this chart showing the value of U.S. agricultural exports from 1970 to 2002. Questions: What happened to agricultural exports between 1980 and 1990? What impact do you think this economic change had on American farmers? What role do you think government should play if an important sector of the U.S. economy is struggling? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: U.S. Census Bureau [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 3 The Soviet grain embargo In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. President Carter wanted the Soviet Union to know that they couldn’t invade their neighbor without a strong response from the United States. As a result, the United States imposed a grain embargo, refusing to sell the Soviet Union 17 million tons of livestock grain that they had ordered. The embargo on grain was intended to impact the country’s source of meat and thus force the Soviet government to reconsider the invasion. However, the Soviet Union was able to get enough grain from other countries, and didn’t withdraw from Afghanistan until nearly ten years later. The embargo caused harm to an already struggling U.S. farm economy by removing an export market for American farmers. The grain embargo caused a surplus of grain, resulting in lower prices. In April 1981, soon after taking office, President Ronald Reagan lifted the embargo.

Questions: Should food be used as a weapon in foreign policy? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: Robert L. Paarlberg, “Lessons of the Grain Embargo,” Foreign Affairs, 1980 [online]; and Clifton B. Luttrell, “The Russian Grain Embargo: Dubious Success,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 4 U.S. droughts In the 1980s, several areas of the United States suffered from serious droughts. Just as in previous years, droughts today still impact agriculture. A drought is a natural occurrence in nature that happens in an area when precipitation (snow or rainfall) is less than normal for a period of time. Other factors that may make droughts more severe include periods of hot and/or windy weather. Droughts often have a serious impact on agriculture and the people that depend on it. Visit the National Weather Service website to learn which areas in the United States are currently experiencing drought conditions. Questions: Where are the droughts in the United States expected to persist? Where in the United States are drought conditions lessening? How do you think droughts in one part of the country impact other parts of the nation? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 4, Embedded Resource 5 Easy credit leads to hard times During the 1970s, farmers took advantage of good economic times to expand. They bought more land, more expensive and better machines, and more farming supplies and services. Many farmers paid for the cost of expansion with low-interest loans. Unfortunately, the economy began to change in the late 1970s. Interest rates went up, people became more conservative in their spending habits, which forced prices on farm goods down, and farm debts began to grow. Some farmers hoped to ride out the bad times by getting more loans, but the hard times persisted, and farmers made even less money. Many farmers lost their farms, or had to get second jobs when their farm was not providing enough income to support their families. Questions: For what purposes did farmers borrow money in the 1970s? How did the economic downturn of the early 1980s make it difficult or impossible to repay their debt? What lessons can Americans learn from their experience? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 1 Reaganomics Read about the economy in the United States during the 1980s from An Outline of the U.S. Economy. “The nation endured a deep recession throughout 1982. Business bankruptcies rose 50 percent over the previous year. Farmers were especially hard hit, as agricultural exports declined, crop prices fell, and interest rates rose. But while the medicine of a sharp slowdown was hard to swallow, it did break the destructive cycle in which the economy had been caught. By 1983, inflation had eased, the economy had rebounded, and the United States began a sustained period of economic growth. The annual inflation rate remained under 5 percent throughout most of the 1980s and into the 1990s. “The economic upheaval of the 1970s had important political consequences. The American people expressed their discontent with federal policies by turning out Carter in 1980 and electing former Hollywood actor and California governor Ronald Reagan as president. Reagan (1981–1989) based his economic program on the theory of supplyside economics, which advocated reducing tax rates so people could keep more of what they earned. The theory was that lower tax rates would induce people to work harder and longer, and that this in turn would lead to more saving and investment, resulting in more production and stimulating overall economic growth. While the Reagan-inspired tax cuts served mainly to benefit wealthier Americans, the economic theory behind the cuts argued that benefits would extend to lower-income people as well because higher investment would lead [to] new job opportunities and higher wages. “The central theme of Reagan’s national agenda, however, was his belief that the federal government had become too big and intrusive. In the early 1980s, while he was cutting taxes, Reagan was also slashing social programs. Reagan also undertook a campaign throughout his tenure to reduce or eliminate government regulations affecting the consumer, the workplace, and the environment. At the same time, however, he feared that the United States had neglected its military in the wake of the Vietnam War, so he successfully pushed for big increases in defense spending. “The combination of tax cuts and higher military spending overwhelmed more modest reductions in spending on domestic programs. As a result, the federal budget deficit swelled even beyond the levels it had reached during the recession of the early 1980s. From $74,000 million in 1980, the federal budget deficit rose to $221,000 million in 1986. It fell back to $150,000 million in 1987, but then started growing again. Some economists worried that heavy spending and borrowing by the federal government would re-ignite inflation, but the Federal Reserve remained vigilant about controlling price increases, moving quickly to raise interest rates any time it seemed a threat. Under Chairman Paul Volcker and his successor, Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve retained the central role of economic traffic cop, eclipsing Congress and the president in guiding the nation’s economy. “The recovery that first built up steam in the early 1980s was not without its problems. Farmers, especially those operating small family farms, continued to face challenges in making a living, especially in 1986 and 1988, when the nation’s mid-section was hit by serious droughts, and several years later when it suffered extensive flooding. Some banks faltered from a combination of tight money and unwise lending practices, particularly those known as savings and loan associations, which went on a spree of unwise lending after they were partially deregulated. The federal government had to close many of these institutions and pay off their depositors, at enormous cost to taxpayers.” Questions: What ideas formed the basis of President Ronald Reagan’s economic theory known as “Reaganomics”? How well did his economic policies work? What impact did they have on agriculture? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “The U.S. Economy: A Brief History,” An Outline of the U.S. Economy, U.S. Information Agency [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 2 Conservation Reserve Program ”Originally authorized under the 1985 Farm Bill, [the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)] is a voluntary program sponsored by USDA that provides incentives to landowners to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and instead establish protective vegetative cover of grass, trees, or wildlife habitat. Since its inception in 1986, this program has helped reduce soil erosion by more than 40 percent and restored 1.8 million acres of critical wetlands. Since President Bush signed the historic 2002 Farm Bill, CRP has increased enrollment by 2.6 million acres, conserving a total of 34.8 million acres of environmentally sensitive land for wildlife habitat, riparian buffers, and soil protection. The 2002 Farm Bill provides more than $40 billion over a decade to restore millions of acres of wetlands, protect habitats, conserve water, and improve streams and rivers near working farms and ranches.” Questions: Why would the government be willing to pay farmers money to participate in the Conservation Reserve Program? How can this program change life in America? Why would a farmer want to participate in the program? Why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Conservation Initiatives Fact Sheet,” White House [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 3 FARM AID concerts On September 22, 1985 in Champaign, Illinois, musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp organized the first FARM AID concert. The concert helped raise money for farmers who were threatened with losing their family farms. Some of the other singers and musicians who performed at the concert were Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, B. B. King, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. Visit the website of the FARM AID organization to learn more about their history and mission. Questions: Why were these singers and musicians so concerned about the plight of small family farms in the 1980s? What has happened to the FARM AID concerts? Do you agree or disagree with this organization’s cause? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.2723609/k.C8F1/About_Us.htm

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 4 Farmers Home Administration Read about how the Congress directed the Farmers Home Administration to modify its credit policies for farmers during the 1980s. “Congress established the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) in response to the economic impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Both the Farm Credit System (FCS) and FmHA have played major roles in supplementing agricultural credit provided by private lenders such as commercial banks and life insurance companies by providing credit to enable producers to purchase farmland as well as to finance annual production expenses. The two lenders play different roles. The Farm Credit System provides credit to creditworthy borrowers. Farmers Home Administration makes financial assistance available primarily to family farmers unable to secure credit from private lenders.” Furthermore: “When the farm economy deteriorated in the early and mid-1980’s, it became apparent that a significant portion of FmHA’s loan portfolio would not be repaid by delinquent borrowers and that increased Congressional appropriations in the future would be needed to address shortfalls. “In 1987, Congress addressed the deteriorating financial position of farm lending organizations across the country in two acts: the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (ACA), a supplemental appropriations act. Congress directed FmHA to reinstate the ‘continuation policy’ which allows borrowers to obtain additional credit without having to show an ability to repay prior loans. FmHA’s loan servicing process traditionally included rescheduling, reamortization, and deferrals. The ACA liberalized this, authorizing FmHA to write-down delinquent loans to allow borrowers to continue operating their farms whenever possible. The Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act of 1990 (FACTA) limited post-November 28, 1990 debt write-down to a lifetime amount of $300,000. In addition, a loan cannot be written down to the point that the net present value of the reduced loan is less than the net recovery value of the loan (prior to restructuring) if liquidated through foreclosure. When no way can be found to restructure a loan through loan servicing and property is foreclosed on by FmHA or voluntarily conveyed to it, the former owner has the first opportunity to lease or repurchase the property, more often than not with Federal financing.” Questions: What reasons would the government have for providing loans to farmers who could not obtain credit from commercial sources? Why would the government direct the Farmers Home Administration to be lenient on farmers who could not repay their debts during the 1980s? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Sources: “Crisis and Activism: 1929–1940,” U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, 1825–1998 [online]; and “Agricultural Programs,” The Impact of Federal Programs on Wetlands: A Report to Congress by the Secretary of the Interior, 1994 [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 5 Wetlands Natural resources and sustainable agricultural systems are a major program area for the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. Many career scientists around the country work on projects in this program area. Questions: Why would the U.S. Department of Agriculture be responsible for doing conservation research? How does American agriculture benefit from research on natural resources? How do farmers benefit? How does the American public benefit? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 5, Embedded Resource 6 World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) develops the rules for trade between nations. Visit the WTO In Brief web page to learn about the WTO. Explore some of the links on this page to examine the organization’s history and its mission. Questions: How might membership in the WTO benefit American agriculture? How might it cause problems for agriculture in the United States? What concerns might some Americans have regarding our nation’s membership in the WTO? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/inbrief_e/inbr00_e.htm

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 1 Community Supported Agriculture As an alternative to competing with large farms, many small farm owners are now marketing specialty products directly to consumers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Visit the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education website to learn about CSA farms. Find a CSA farm near you. Questions: Why are there more CSA farms in some states than in others? What advantages do farmers with this kind of marketing approach enjoy? What might be the limitations? Besides providing Americans with an alternative source of food, what other benefits could there be? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A sare.org/Learning-Center/Topics/For-Consumers

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 2 Diversified farming “Karl Kupers, an eastern Washington grain grower, was a typical dryland wheat farmer who idled his land in fallow to conserve moisture. After years of watching his soil blow away and his market price slip, he made drastic changes to his 5,600-acre operation. In place of fallow, he planted more profitable hard red and hard white wheats along with seed crops like condiment mustard, sunflower, grass and safflower. All of those were drilled using a notill system Kupers calls direct-seeding. “’I look at this more diverse system as a tremendous opportunity to decrease chemical use and make more net profit per acre,’ said Kupers, who received a grant from USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program to offset the risk. Now, he puts his exuberant personality to work as an aggressive marketer of alternative crops--clearing more profits each year while achieving his goal to save soil. “’Economically, I think we’re just about at that point where we can show that we can be sustainable for the short term and the future,’ he said. ‘We put no dust in the atmosphere, there’s no particulate matter, if water does run off our soils, it is clean water.’ “Although growing alternative crops to diversify a traditional farm rotation increase[s] profits while lessening adverse environmental impacts, the majority of U.S. cropland is still planted in just three crops: soybeans, corn and wheat. That lack of crop diversity can cause problems for farmers, from low profits to soil erosion. Adding new crops that fit climate, geography and management preferences can improve not only your bottom line, but also your whole farming outlook. “’Continued low commodity prices have gradually driven more and more people to look for other options,’ said Rob Myers, executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute in Columbia, Mo. For some farmers, planting alternative crops has made an ‘immediate and significant’ improvement in income, he said. “Kupers is not the only farmer who diversified his monoculture cropping system to enjoy renewed profits. Members of the Northwest Kansas Farm Management Association, for example, enjoyed average net farm incomes of $50,485 in 1998--three times that of other Kansas growers--after diversifying their operations.” Questions: Why did Karl Kupers diversify his farming operation? What benefits did Kupers achieve by planting alternative crops? How did the government help Mr. Kupers with his efforts to diversify his farm? Do you agree or disagree with the government’s efforts to support this farmer? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Diversifying Cropping Systems,” Opportunities in Agriculture Bulletin, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 3 Catfish farming “Catfish farming makes up a large percentage of the U.S. aquaculture industry and typifies aquaculture in action. “The life of a farm-raised catfish begins with the mating of genetically bred broodstock. Broodstock are sexually mature fish used solely for reproduction. They are so important that some farmers specialize in their production. “Typically, once the eggs are laid and fertilized, they are placed in controlled hatching tanks with oxygenated water of suitable temperature and quality. The eggs hatch in seven to eight days, and 18 days after hatching the young catfish--’fry,’ as they are called--are strong enough to be transferred to outdoor ponds to mature. “The pond size may vary from 5 to 20 acres, is 4 to 5 feet deep, and is usually fed by a good supply of well water. Catfish fry, which are less than 1 inch long at this point, are stocked at densities ranging from 70,000 per acre to upwards of 200,000 per acre, as recommended by hatchery biologists. “Once fish enter the pond, their growth and survival will wholly depend upon the quality of that environment. Everything the fish comes into contact with has the potential of becoming a part of the edible flesh of that organism and can affect its life. If the water or food contains contaminants, they may end up in the fish. If improper drugs are used to treat a disease, residues of those drugs may also become a part of the fish. If too many aquatic plants are present, they will compete with the fish for oxygen. Sound management is essential to keep the fish growing. “So, from the time of stocking to the time of harvest, the farmer is busy controlling the aquaculture system. “First, every attention is given to the quality of the commercially prepared dry pellet diet. It must be high in protein, made of soybeans, corn, wheat, and fishmeal, and contain a balance of essential vitamins and minerals. “A balanced diet of floating pellets is mechanically scattered on the fish pond’s surface once or twice daily. Fish gourmets credit the pellet for the catfish’s distinctive flavor, which they say they would recognize blindfolded. Others say the taste comes from the sweet well water in which the catfish grow. This, too, is managed by the farmer. “Even before the fish go into the pond, water quality and location are concerns. The farmers make sure the pond’s soil is free of pesticides and not contaminated. Then they secure an abundant source of clean water. Most catfish farmers use well water because of its desirable chemical makeup and lack of contaminants. “The water quality must be constantly checked for optimum growth requirements: proper temperature, the right amount of oxygen, the appropriate water chemistry, and just the right balance of aquatic plants and weeds. “Under the best conditions, 18 to 24 months after hatching, the catfish reach a market weight size of one and onequarter to one and one-half pounds. They are transferred from the pond to water-laden, oxygen-treated tank trucks for live shipment to the processing plant.” Questions: How does fish farming compare to growing traditional agricultural products? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: Beverly Corey, “Life on a Fish Farm: Food Safety a Priority,” U.S. Food and Drug Administration [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 4 Sustainable agriculture Read the booklet Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture at the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Service website, and then answer the following questions. Questions: What makes sustainable agriculture different from conventional agriculture? How many different ways are there to practice sustainable agriculture? How would you define the basic principles of sustainable agriculture? In your opinion, how will this approach to agriculture change our nation and the world? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A sare.org/publications/explore/explore.pdf

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 6, Embedded Resource 5 Transitioning to organic farming “When John Vollmer, a third-generation tobacco farmer in Bunn, N.C., decided to stop growing tobacco and start raising strawberries organically, it was an unexpected move for someone who describes himself as a chemical-oriented farmer. Yet, Vollmer, whose main priority was finding a way to keep the family farm in the family, recognized that organic production might be a route to greater profits. “’It was not an easy transition for me to think in other ways,’ said Vollmer, a former agricultural chemical salesman. Yet, as he read books on organic soil management, he soon found himself fascinated by organic farming concepts. Over the next two years, he built soil organic matter with composts and cover crops and carefully researched organic techniques. Then he began his transition. “Since then, his two acres of organic strawberries have been so successful that Vollmer brought another 25 acres into mixed fruit and vegetable production using the same soil and pest management techniques. While he has not certified that new acreage because he still wants to apply agri-chemical sprays if needed, he now considers himself more organic than conventional in the new field. In fact, asked whether he has any doubts about organic farming, Vollmer replied that he has only one: whether he should be transitioning those 25 acres now--or later. “Vollmer typifies the enormous changes that have occurred in organic farming over the last 20 years. Two decades ago, it would have been impossible to predict the huge expansion of the organic industry.” Questions: How long did it take John Vollmer to prepare his farm to become an organic agricultural operation? What steps did he go through to make the transition? How successful did he feel his efforts were? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Transitioning to Organic Production,” Opportunities in Agriculture Bulletin, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 1 Precision agriculture These northern Louisiana farmers are using global positioning technology to make precise applications of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides where they are needed on small areas of the field.

Questions: How might using computers and global positioning satellites benefit these farmers? How difficult would it be to make precise applications of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to small areas of a field without the aid of computers and other information technologies? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 2 Natural Resource Conservation Service The Plants Database is part of the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service. According to the USDA, the database contains “standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.” Visit the database website and type in the common name of a plant in your part of the country.

Questions: Is the plant you typed in native to the United States? In what states is the plant found? What is its scientific name? Why would collecting all the plant information for the United States be part of the mission of the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service? How can farmers and ranchers make use of this information? How can Americans with backyards or rooftop and community gardens make use of this information? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A plants.usda.gov

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 3 Global Positioning System “The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based radio-navigation system consisting of a constellation of satellites and a network of ground stations used for monitoring and control. A minimum of 24 GPS satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of approximately 11,000 miles providing users with accurate information on position, velocity, and time anywhere in the world and in all weather conditions. “GPS is operated and maintained by the Department of Defense (DoD). The Interagency GPS Executive Board (IGEB) manages GPS, while the U.S. Coast Guard acts as the civil interface to the public for GPS matters. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating and applying the use of GPS as it pertains to aviation. History and Development GPS, formally known as the Navstar Global Positioning System, was initiated in 1973 to reduce the proliferation of navigation aids. By creating a system that overcame the limitations of many existing navigation systems, GPS became attractive to a broad spectrum of users worldwide. GPS has been successful in virtually all navigation applications, and because its capabilities are accessible using small, inexpensive equipment, GPS is being utilized in a wide variety of applications across the globe.” Questions: What areas of your life does the GPS impact? In what ways would a farmer benefit from the GPS? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “GPS Basics,” Satellite Navigation Product Teams, Federal Aviation Administration [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 4 Outlook for farmers and ranchers The Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook contains detailed descriptions of the employment opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers. Visit their website and answer the following questions. Questions: Which of the points are most significant to you? Why do people choose to work within these very important, but difficult, jobs? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos176.htm

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 5 Farmers and computers Successful farming requires “smart” work. Read this article about farmers and their use of computers at the Journal of Extension and answer the following questions. Questions: Why does the author of the article write that farmers must farm “smarter”? How will computers help farmers be more successful? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A joe.org/joe/1990spring/a4.html

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 7, Embedded Resource 6 Extension Service “All universities engage in research and teaching, but the nation’s more than 100 land-grant colleges and universities, have a third critical mission--extension. ‘Extension’ means ‘reaching out,’ and--along with teaching and research--land-grant institutions ‘extend’ their resources, solving public needs with college or university resources through non-formal, non-credit programs. “Congress created the extension system nearly a century ago to address exclusively rural, agricultural issues. At that time, more than 50 percent of the U.S. population lived in rural areas, and 30 percent of the workforce was engaged in farming. Extension’s engagement with rural America helped make possible the American agricultural revolution, which dramatically increased farm productivity: --In 1945, it took up to 14 labor-hours to produce 100 bushels of corn on 2 acres of land. --By 1987, it took just under 3 labor-hours to produce that same 100 bushels of corn on just over 1 acre. --In 2002, that same 100 bushels of corn were produced on less than 1 acre. “That increase in productivity has allowed fewer farmers to produce more food. “Fewer than 2 percent of Americans farm for a living today, and only 10 percent of Americans now live in rural areas. Yet, the extension service still plays an important role in American life--rural, urban, and suburban. With its unprecedented reach--with an office in or near most of the nation’s approximately 3,000 counties--extension agents help farmers grow crops, homeowners plan and maintain their homes, and children learn skills to become tomorrow’s leaders.” Questions: How does the USDA and its land-grant extension partners work together to help farmers? Why does the government work with universities to do this work? Who benefits from extension services besides farmers? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Extension: Introduction,” Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 1 NAFTA “The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which took effect on January 1, 1994, called for the phasing out of virtually all restrictions on trade and investment flows among the United States, Canada, and Mexico over 10 years (with a few of the most sensitive restrictions eliminated over 15 years). The United States and Canada were already well into the elimination of the barriers between themselves in accordance with the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement, so the main new feature of NAFTA was the removal of the barriers between Mexico and those two countries.” Questions: Why did the United States enter into this agreement with Canada and Mexico? What benefits does NAFTA provide to each of the three countries? Do you think that NAFTA is a good idea? Why or why not? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: The Effects of NAFTA on U.S. Mexican Trade and GDP, Congressional Business Office [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 2 Human Genome Project Since 1947, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessor agencies have been charged by Congress with developing new energy resources and technologies and pursuing a deeper understanding of the potential health and environmental risks posed by their production and use. Such studies, for example, have provided the scientific basis for individual risk assessments of nuclear medicine technologies. Visit the Human Genome Project website sponsored by the DOE and answer the following questions. Questions: Why is the Department of Energy tasked by Congress to study human genomes? What is the value of this research? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/publicat/primer2001/2.shtml

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 3 Cloning “Proponents of livestock cloning see it benefiting consumers, producers, animals and the environment. “The consumer is looking for a nutritious and wholesome product provided to them in a repeatable and reliable manner and produced in a humane and ethical way,’ says [rancher and veterinarian Donald] Coover, who also owns and manages SEK Genetics Inc., a beef cattle semen distribution company. ‘If a consumer spends $30 on a steak dinner at a restaurant, they expect a great steak, but don’t always get it.’ “For farmers whose livelihoods depend on selling high-quality meat and dairy products, cloning can offer a tremendous advantage, says Coover. It gives them the ability to preserve and extend proven, superior genetics. They can select and propagate the best animals--beef cattle that are fast-growing, have lean but tender meat, and are disease-resistant[,] dairy cows and goats that give lots of milk and sheep that produce high-quality wool. Through cloning, it would be possible to predict the characteristics of each animal, rather than taking the chance that sexual reproduction and its gene reshuffling provide. “Coover compares the process of identifying a superior animal to spinning a giant roulette wheel. ‘Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you hit the jackpot.’ But a producer cannot tell if he’s hit the jackpot with a young animal. ‘It’s like trying to identify the school kid in the second grade who is going to grow up to solve the riddle of cancer,’ says Coover. ‘A rancher may think he has a good bull, but that bull has to sire calves, the calves have to mature and produce calves of their own, and this has to occur for several generations to know that it’s not a fluke. By that time, the bull is dead and gone, and its genetics are lost to the industry.’ Through SCNT cloning, even deceased animals can be cloned if a tissue sample is preserved in life or within a short time after death. “Cloning has the potential to improve the welfare of farm animals by eliminating pain and suffering from disease. ‘From time to time, in nature, you find a naturally disease-resistant animal,’ says [Larisa] Rudenko [a molecular biologist and risk assessor in the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine]. ‘You can expand that genome through cloning, and then breed that resistance into the overall population and help eliminate major diseases in livestock.’ “’Cloning can reduce the number of unwanted animals, such as veal calves,’ says Ray Page, chief scientific officer and biomedical engineer at Cyagra, a livestock cloning company. Veal calves are commonly surplus male offspring from dairy cows. Since the males don’t produce milk, they are not as useful to the dairy industry and are turned into veal calves. Cloning can ensure the creation of more female offspring for dairy production. “An environmental benefit could result from cloning grass-fed instead of grain-fed animals. Grain-fed animals are known to be better tasting and more tender, but once in a while, a high-quality grass-fed animal comes along. ‘If we can move our cattleraising from a grain economy to a grass-fed economy, we can make food more efficiently and there are benefits to us as a society,’ says John Matheson, a toxicologist and environmentalist who serves as a senior regulatory review scientist for biotechnology in CVM. Grass is a soil-building crop. In addition to reducing erosion, grass does not need the quantities of fertilizers and pesticides required by grain. And because forage is cheaper than grain, production savings can be passed on to consumers. “’Cloning can help spread the best genetics over larger populations of animals,’ says [Ph.D. Steven] Stice. When farm animals are cloned, genetic diversity may be reduced, but cloning can also be a tool to preserve rare genetics in livestock and, potentially, wild animals. Stice encourages zoos and wildlife refuges to preserve the tissue of endangered species in the hopes that technology in the theoretical stage today can be developed to regenerate these species in the future.” Questions: What are the anticipated benefits of cloning? What are the anticipated drawbacks of cloning? Do you think researchers should continue studying cloning techniques? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: Linda Bren, “Cloning: Revolution or Evolution in Animal Production?” FDA Consumer Magazine (May–June 2003) [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 4 George H. W. Bush George H. W. Bush was the forty-first President of the United States. Visit the White House website to read a brief biography of the father of the forty-third President, and then answer the following questions. Questions: What were President Bush’s greatest accomplishments? Why was he not elected to a second term? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gb41.html

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 5 NAFTA successes “Some Positive Stories from NAFTA “U.S. pork producers credit NAFTA with their gains in market share in Mexico for pork products which increased 130 percent between 1994 and 2000. “The volume of U.S. beef and veal exports to Canada increased 26 percent between 1990 and 2000 and increased over fivefold to Mexico during 1993 to 2000. “Sales of U.S. corn to Canada increased more than 127 percent in volume between 1990 and 2000 and increased nearly eighteen fold to Mexico during 1993 to 2000. Mexico chose to expedite its market openings for corn under NAFTA in order to provide lower cost food to its increasingly urban population and to ensure it had sufficient animal feed. The volume of U.S. soybean exports to Canada increased 15 percent between 1990 and 2000 and doubled for Mexico during 1993 to 2000. “Exports of U.S. horticultural products to Canada have increased almost 30 percent since 1994, reaching $3.3 billion in 2000.” Questions: Why have agricultural exports increased since NAFTA took effect? What effect would these increases have on American farmers? Why do you think some people are against NAFTA? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Benefits of NAFTA,” FAS Backgrounder, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 8, Embedded Resource 6 The Cold War ends “After World War II, the alliance between the Soviet Union and its western allies disintegrated into the Cold War. During this time period, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) became the world’s two superpowers. They waged war not through direct confrontation, but instead through a series of arms races, nuclear threats, and smaller conflicts around the globe. “As this war continued, the United States and the USSR stockpiled thousands of nuclear weapons in the anticipation that war might occur. The goal was to have so many weapons that the other side would not dare attack for fear of its own destruction. “Fear of Communism spreading into the United States became widespread during the Cold War. In the 1950s, the McCarthy hearings were held, where zealous Congressional leaders tried to expose American citizens who may have been communist party members. “During the Cold War, the United States wanted to prevent the spread of communism into new areas and became involved in various efforts to do this. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was organized in 1949 and led by the United States. This organization of western nations agreed to help each other if attacked by other nations. Among some of the conflicts that took place during the Cold War were the Berlin Blockade[,] the Communist take-over of China[,] the Korean War[,] the Bay of Pigs invasion[,] the Cuban Missile Crisis[,] the space race[,] the Vietnam War[,] and the East German, Polish, Hungarian, and Czechoslovakian uprisings. “The Cold War finally ended in 1990. Communism proved to be an economic and political failure. Almost overnight, the communist governments in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union itself collapsed. Only China and Cuba today remain countries under a communist form of government.” Questions: What influence has Communism had in the world? What influence does Communism continue to have? How important is it that Communism be overthrown? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “The Cold War,” Wars in U.S. History, Download Learning [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 1 William J. Clinton Bill Clinton was the first Democratic President since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. Visit the White House website to read a brief biography of this very popular President and answer the following questions. Questions: Why was President Clinton so popular? Why did he eventually become only the second President to be impeached? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 2 Organic food standards and labels “The U.S. Department of Agriculture has put in place a set of national standards that food labeled ‘organic’ must meet, whether it is grown in the United States or imported from other countries. After October 21, 2002, when you buy food labeled ‘organic,’ you can be sure that it was produced using the highest organic production and handling standards in the world.

“What is organic food? Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge bioengineering or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled ‘organic,’ a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.

“Is organic food better for me and my family? USDA makes no claims that organically produced food is safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food. Organic food differs from conventionally produced food in the way it is grown, handled, and processed.

“When I go to the supermarket, how can I tell organically produced food from conventionally produced food? You must look at package labels and watch for signs in the supermarket. Along with the national organic standards, USDA developed strict labeling rules to help consumers know the exact organic content of the food they buy. The USDA Organic seal also tells you that a product is at least 95 percent organic.

“Single-ingredient foods Look for the word ‘organic’ and a small sticker version of the USDA Organic seal on vegetables or pieces of fruit. Or they may appear on the sign above the organic produce display. “The word ‘organic’ and the seal may also appear on packages of meat, cartons of milk or eggs, cheese, and other single-ingredient foods.

“Foods with more than one ingredient “The above photo shows examples of the labels that may be used on a wide variety of products that use organic ingredients. “The sample cereal boxes show the four labeling categories. From left: cereal with 100 percent organic ingredients[,] cereal with 95–100 percent organic ingredients[,] cereal made with at least 70 percent organic ingredients[,] and cereal with less than 70 percent organic ingredients. Products with less than 70 percent organic ingredients may list specific organically produced ingredients on the side panel of the package, but may not make any organic claims on the front of the package. Look for the name and address of the Government-approved certifier on all packaged products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients.

“Will I find the USDA Organic seal on all 100 percent organic products, or products with at least 95 percent organic ingredients? No. The use of the seal is voluntary.

“How is use of the USDA Organic seal protected? People who sell or label a product ‘organic’ when they know it does not meet USDA standards can be fined up to $10,000 for each violation.

“Does natural mean organic? No. Natural and organic are not interchangeable. Other truthful claims, such as free-range, hormone-free, and natural, can still appear on food labels. However, don’t confuse these terms with ‘organic.’ Only food labeled ‘organic’ has been certified as meeting USDA organic standards.”

Questions: Do you or your family use organically grown foods? Why or why not? How important is the supply of organically grown foods to you? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Organic Food Standards and Labels: The Facts,” Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 3 Careers in agricultural science Visit the Florida-Agriculture website to learn about careers in agriculture.

Questions: Why have careers in agriculture become so specialized? With more than 7 billion people on planet Earth, how important will agricultural careers be in the future? Select a career using the Career Explorer and report on the salary and education requirements. Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A ffa.org/APPCTR/Pages/CareerExplorer.aspx

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 4 Food safety In his January 25, 1997 radio address, President Bill Clinton said the following: “We have built a solid foundation for the health of America’s families. But clearly we must do more. No parent should have to think twice about the juice they pour their children at breakfast, or a hamburger ordered during dinner out.” Questions: How do you feel about the safety of the food you eat each day? Why was the President concerned about the safety of America’s food supply? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Food Safety Initiative Fact Sheet,” FoodSafety.gov [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 5 Farmers’ markets “Direct marketing of farm products through farmers markets continues to be an important sales outlet for agricultural producers nationwide. Farmers markets, now an integral part in the urban/farm linkage, have continued to rise in popularity, mostly due to the growing consumer interest in obtaining fresh products directly from the farm. The number of farmers markets in the United States has grown dramatically, increasing 79 percent from 1994 to 2002. According to the 2002 National Farmers Market Directory, there are over 3,100 farmers markets operating in the United States. This growth clearly indicates that farmers markets are meeting the needs of a growing number of farmers with small- to medium-size operations.”

Questions: Why have farmers’ markets grown in popularity among consumers? Why have they become more popular for farmers? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “Farmers Market Facts,” Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 9, Embedded Resource 6 Vertical integration Vertical integration exists when a company owns all the different aspects of making, selling, and delivering a product or service. In the oil industry, for example, this refers to major oil companies that have ownership or control of the drilling, pumping, refining, and distribution of petroleum products.

Questions: How do you think vertical integration is used in agriculture? Who benefits from vertical integration in agriculture? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 1 Global economy “President George W. Bush said ‘We know that nations that open their economies to the benefit of trade are more successful in climbing out of poverty…We also know that free trade encourages the habits of liberty that sustain freedom. . . .’ “The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The WTO agreements are negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.” Questions: Do you think a global economy can work? What problems do you see for the United States and other countries around the world? What advantages are there to a global marketplace? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: E. Kwan Choi, “The Foundations of the World Trading System,” Economics 355, Iowa State University [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 2 Biosecurity In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the President created the Department of Homeland Security, to coordinate counter terrorism efforts. Biosecurity is an important part of the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Visit the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service website on Agricultural and Food Biosecurity and answer the following questions.

Questions: How do you feel about our government’s actions to improve security? What are some of the animal and plant programs that make our nation’s agricultural system more secure? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A epa.gov/agriculture/tbis.html

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 3 George W. Bush George W. Bush was sworn into office in January of 2001. President Bush led the American people through the difficult days following the September 11 attacks. Visit the White House website to read a brief biography of President Bush and answer the following questions.

Questions: Which areas of President Bush’s private life helped him become successful as President? What has President Bush done that impacted your life the most? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 4 Ann Veneman “Ann M. Veneman was sworn in as the 27th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on January 20, 2001. Her lifelong commitment to food and farm issues, along with her bipartisan approach to solving problems and confronting new challenges, are reasons that explain why she was chosen by President George W. Bush to serve in his Cabinet and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. “Growing up on a family farm in a small rural community, Ann Veneman understands well the issues important to America’s farmers and ranchers. She has spent much of her career dedicated to food and agriculture issues and advancing sound U.S. farm and food policies. “President Bush has often said that the spirit of the American farmer is emblematic of the spirit of America, signifying the values of hard work, faith and entrepreneurship. Secretary Veneman believes strongly in these principles and since taking office, has worked to foster economic opportunities for farmers and ranchers, ensure a safe and wholesome food supply, protect agriculture against pests and diseases, encourage conservation and environmental stewardship, invest in rural communities, and support the next generation of agricultural leaders through new educational opportunities. “Secretary Veneman [played] a key role in eliminating trade barriers and expanding opportunities for American farmers through new export markets. She [worked] closely with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, helping lead to the successful launch of a new round of trade negotiations for the World Trade Organization. “Following a devastating outbreak of foot and mouth disease in parts of Europe and the tragic events of September 11th, Secretary Veneman and her team acted swiftly to respond to potential threats and continues working to strengthen USDA’s protection systems. The Secretary has been an advocate for strong pest and disease, food safety and research programs to ensure U.S. agriculture and consumers have a safe, wholesome food supply and the infrastructure to protect it. “Secretary Veneman [was] a strong advocate of agriculture education and established the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ initiative to strengthen USDA education programs, particularly those involved with mentoring young adults. “The Secretary earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Davis, a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a juris doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. In a personal capacity, she serves as a board member of the Close Up Foundation, a nonpartisan civic education organization.” Questions: What formal and informal training prepared Secretary Veneman for a position in President Bush’s cabinet? What would you focus on if you were the Secretary of Agriculture? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: White House [online].

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Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 5 Ethanol “A golden kernel of corn is a rich source of many food and industrial products, one of which is ethanol. Ethanol production in the United States grew from 175 million gallons in 1980 to a record 2.8 billion gallons in 2003. This boost in ethanol demand has created a significant new market for corn. “’The United States is producing more ethanol from corn and other domestic, renewable resources than ever before,’ says Kevin Hicks, research leader in ARS’s Crop Conversion Science and Engineering Research Unit. ‘Almost 10 percent of the U.S. corn crop is used to make fuel ethanol. That’s good for America’s farmers. Ethanol is also good for the environment because its use reduces greenhouse gas emissions.’” Questions: What should America do to increase the production of alternative fuels? What can you do to help alleviate the difficulties America experiences with fuel shortages? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A Source: “New Milling Methods Improve Corn Ethanol Production,” Agricultural Research Magazine, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

Growing a Nation: Into a New Millennium Lesson 4: 1970-Present, Screen 10, Embedded Resource 6 Mike Johanns In January 2005, Mike Johanns was sworn in as the twenty-eighth Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Secretary was born in Iowa and grew up on a dairy farm. Read his biography at the U.S. Department of Agriculture website to learn why he was selected for this important position. Questions: What qualifications do you think are necessary for a person to be selected as the Secretary of Agriculture? What impact do you think the Secretary of Agriculture has on agriculture in the United States? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2A usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=bios_johanns.xml

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Appendix 3

Primary Source Analysis Activity Sheets

Written Document

Photograph Cartoon Poster Map Artifact

Motion Picture

Sound Recording

All Analysis Activity Sheets produced by the National Archives and Records Administration. Washington, D.C. Online at archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/index.html

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Name Written Document Analysis Activity Sheet 1. Type of document (Check one): ____Newspaper ____Map ____Advertisement ____Letter ____Telegram ____Congressional Record ____Patent

____Press Release

____Census Report

____Memorandum ____Report ____Other 2. Unique physical characteristics of the document (Check one or more): ____Interesting Letterhead

____Notations

____Handwritten ____â&#x20AC;&#x153;RECEIVEDâ&#x20AC;? stamp ____Typed ____Other ____Seals 3. Date(s) of document:

4. Author (or creator) of the document, include position (title):

5. For what audience was the document written?

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6. Document information (There are many possible ways to answer A-E.) A. List three things the author said that you think are important:

B. Why do you think this document was written?

C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document.

D. List two things the document tells you about life in the United States at the time it was written:

E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document:

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Name

Photograph Analysis Activity Sheet Step 1: Observation A.

Study the photograph for 2 minutes. Form an overall impression of the photograph and then examine individual items. Next, divide the photo into quadrants and study each section to see what new details become visible.

List any information you know about the photograph, i.e., where it was taken, the photographer, the year, etc.

Use the chart below to list people, objects, and activities in the photograph. People Objects Activities

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Step 2: Inference Based on what you have observed above, list three things you might infer from this photograph: 1. 2. 3.

Step 3: Questions A.

What questions does this photograph raise in your mind?

Where could you find answers to them?

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Name

Cartoon Analysis Activity Sheet Level 1 Visuals 1. List the objects or people you see in the cartoon.

Words (not all cartoons include words) 1. Identify the cartoon caption and/or title.

2. Locate three words or phrases used by the cartoonist to identify objects or people within the cartoon.

3. Record any important dates or numbers that appear in the cartoon.

Level 2 Visuals 2. Which of the objects on your list are symbols?

3. What do you think each symbol means?

Words 4. Which words or phrases in the cartoon appear to be the most significant? Why do you think so?

5. List adjectives that describe the emotions portrayed in the cartoon.

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Level 3 A. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon.

B. Explain how the words in the cartoon clarify the symbols.

C. Explain the message of the cartoon.

D. What special interest groups would agree/disagree with the cartoonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message? Why?

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Name

Poster Analysis Activity Sheet 1. What are the main colors used in the poster?

2. What symbols (if any) are used in the poster?

3. If a symbol is used, is it

a. clear (easy to interpret)?

b. memorable?

c. dramatic?

4. Are the messages in the poster primarily visual, verbal, or both?

5. Who do you think is the intended audience for the poster?

6. What does the Government hope the audience will do?

What Government purpose(s) is served by the poster?

8. The most effective posters use symbols that are unusual, simple, and direct. Is this an effective poster?

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Name

Map Analysis Activity Sheet 1. Type of map (Check one): ____Raised relief map ____Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-eye map ____Topographic map ____Artifact map ____Political map ____Satellite photograph/mosaic ____Contour-line map ____Pictograph ____Natural resource map ____Weather map ____Military map ____Other 2. Unique physical qualities of the map (Check one or more): ____Compass ____Name of mapmaker ____Handwritten ____Title ____Legend (key) ____Date ____Notations ____Other ____Scale 3. Date of map: 4. Creator of the map: 5. Where was the map produced?

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6. Map information

A. List three things in this map that you think are important.

B. Why do you think this map was drawn?

C. What evidence in the map suggests why it was drawn?

D. What information does this map add to the textbookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s account of this event?

E. Does the information in this map support or contradict information that you have read about this event? Explain.

F. Write a question to the mapmaker that is left unanswered by this map.

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Name

Artifact Analysis Activity Sheet 1. Type of artifact (Describe the material from which it was made: bone, pottery, metal, wood, stone, leather, glass, paper, cardboard, cotton, plastic, other material.):

2. Special qualities of the artifact (Describe how it looks and feels: shape, color texture, size, weight, movable parts, anything printed, stamped or written on it.):

3. Uses of the artifact

A. What might it have been used for?

B. Who might have used it?

C. Where might it have been used?

D. When might it have been used?

4. What does the artifact tell us? A. What does it tell us about technology of the time in which it was made and used?

B. What does it tell us about the life and times of the people who made it and used it?

C. Can you name a similar item today?

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Name

Motion Picture Analysis Activity Sheet Step 1. Previewing A. Title of Film: B. What do you think you will see in this motion picture? List three concepts or ideas that you might expect to see based on the title of the film. List some people you might expect to see based on the title of the film. Concepts/Ideas People

Step 2. Viewing A. Type of motion picture (check where applicable):

____Animated Cartoon 足足____Theatrical short subject

____Documentary Film

____Training film

____Newsreel ____Combat film ____Propaganda Film ____Other B. Physical qualities of the motion picture (check where applicable): ____Music ____Live action ____Narration ____ Background noise ____Special effects ____Animation ____Color ____Dramatizations C. Note how camera angles, lighting, music, narration, and/or editing contribute to creating an atmosphere in this film. What is the mood or tone of the film?

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Name

Sound Recording Analysis Activity Sheet Step 1. Pre-listening A. Whose voices will you hear on this recording?

B. What is the date of the recording?

C. Where was this recording made?

Step 2. Listening A. Type of sound recording (check one): ____Policy speech ____Convention proceedings

____Congressional testimony

____Campaign speech

____News report

____Arguments before a court

____Interview ____Panel discussion ____Entertainment broadcast ____Other

____Press conference

B. Unique physical qualities of the recording: ____Music ____Live broadcast ____Narrated ____Special sound effects

____Background sound

C. What is the tone or mood of this recording?

D. Why do you think the original broadcast was made and for what audience?

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Appendix 4

Vocabulary

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Seeds of Change - Lesson 1: 1600-1929 Terms Bill of Rights bonanza farm boycott cash crop conservationist depression dry farming duty federal free enterprise system ghost town immigrant industrialization economies of scale Gilded Age Grange, The Industrial Revolution Interstate Commerce Act labor union laissez-faire legislature manifest destiny manufacturing mass production middleman mercantilism Market Revolution plantation population density Populist productivity rationing republic reservation scalawag sharecropping social welfare program Southern Colonies staple crop stereotype subsidy tariff tenant farming urban

Definition/Event First ten amendments to the Constitution Farm controlled by a large business and managed by professionals Refusal to buy a certain product or use a service Crop that is grown for sale Person concerned with the care and protection of natural resources A severe economic downturn marked by a decrease in business activity, widespread unemployment, and falling prices and wages Techniques used to raise crops in areas that receive little rain A tax on imports Of or formed by a compact of a union of states that agree to divide power with a central government Economic system in which companies compete for profits Town that has been abandoned because of lack of economic activity Person who enters a new country to settle Growth of industry Phenomenon that as production increases, the cost of each item produced is often lower Term used to describe the golden period for industrialists, from 1877 to 1900; abuses of power in business and government that caused problems for immigrants, laborers, and farmers Organization formed to help farmers cooperate economically and politically; also known as the Patrons of Husbandry Effort, beginning in Britain in the late 1700s, to increase production by using machines powered by sources other than humans or animals 1887 law that regulated railroads and other interstate businesses Organization of workers formed to protect the interest of its members A government policy of not interfering in private business A lawmaking assembly Argument that the United States was destined to expand across North America Making of goods by machinery Manufacture of goods in great amounts Someone who buys items from one source and sells them to others Economic theory that a country should acquire as much bullion, or gold and silver, as possible, by exporting more goods than it imports Shift from a home-based company to one based on money and the buying and selling of goods Large farm on which crops are raised mainly for sale The average number of people living within a given area Supporter of the Populist party, formed in 1891 to advocate a larger money supply and other economic reform Amount that a worker produces in a given period of time Distributing goods in a fixed amount to consumers A government run by the people through their elected representatives Area that the federal government set aside for Native Americans who had lost their homelands An insulting nickname for a white Southern Republican following the Civil War System of farming in which a farmer farms some portion of a planterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s land and receives a share of the crop at harvest time as payment Program designed to ensure a basic standard of living for all citizens The English colonies of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia A crop that is in constant demand, such as cotton, wheat, or rice A fixed conception held by a number of people Payment made by the government to encourage the development of certain industries Tax on foreign goods imported into a country System of farming in which a farmer rents land to farm from a planter Relating to a city

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From Defeat to Victory - Lesson 2: 1930-1949 Terms

Definition/Event

consumer economy

An economy that depends on a large amount of buying by individuals

Gross National Product national debt New Deal

Total annual value of goods and services that a country produces The total amount of money owed by the national government President Franklin Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program of relief, recovery, and reform programs to combat the Great Depression A federal project to provide electricity, flood control, and recreational opportunities to the Tennessee River Valley

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

Prosperity & Challenges - Lesson 3: 1950-1969 Terms Great Society migrant farm worker

Definition/Event President Lyndon Johnsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposals to aid public education, provide medical care for the elderly, and eliminate poverty Worker who moves from farm to farm, planting and harvesting various crops

Into the New Millennium - Lesson 4: 1970-Present Terms General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) supply-side economics

Definition/Event International agreement on reducing tariffs and expanding world trade Agreement calling for removal of trade restrictions among the United States, Canada, and Mexico Theory that tax reductions will increase investment and thereby encourage business growth

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Appendix 5

Assessment Techniques

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Assessment Techniques An assortment of assessment tools can be used to evaluate learning. Using the research-based assessment strategies outlined below provides teachers and students with flexibility for assessment meeting the needs of different types of information, including content and processes, and different learners. Several of these assessment techniques are accomplished in the Growing a Nation lessons and Embedded Resources. Questioning: One of the most useful methods of differentiation assessment (Northey) is questioning. Oral or written, teachers have always used questioning techniques for assessment. Teachers can use questions to make written quizzes and content tests. Multiple choice questions are used for objective questions to determine right answers. This is the most common method of assessment. At the beginning of each Growing a Nation lesson “Essential Questions” are asked. Each of these questions helps students to arrive at the “Enduring Understanding.” (The significant events throughout American agricultural history that have changed American society and the lives of her citizens.) Essential Question: Lesson 1: 1600-1929 What are the major events or inventions that changed American families and communities, science and technology, education, economy, business, trade, labor, and legislation from 1780-1929? Essential Questions: Lesson 2: 1930-1949 What was the cause of the Dust Bowl? How did the Dust Bowl and agriculture contribute to The Great Depression? How did the Dust Bowl impact the environment? What was government’s response to help farmers during the 1930s? What ended The Great Depression? Essential Questions: Lesson 3: 1950-1969 How has America fed itself and much of the world? What has happened in the last 200 years to reduce farm labor and increase production? How has agriculture made it possible for Americans to pursue their hopes and dreams? Essential Questions: Lesson 4: 1970-Present Does America need to farm in the 21st Century? Who supports the 2% who grow products on farms and then ensure a finished product arrives as food, clothes, shelter, or energy? (Another 9% of the population in the role of scientists, specialists, processors, business professionals, etc.) Who will be the next generation of farmers, agricultural scientists and agricultural educators? What is sovereignty as it relates to America’s food and energy supplies? These “Essential Questions” can be answered and assessed in a variety of ways. These questions are usually answered by: • Comparing and contrasting–example: How is one thing different or the same as another thing? • Observing–example: What do you see when this happens? • Ordering–example: What patterns do you notice when this happens? • Communicating–example: Can you summarize your findings? • Categorizing–example: How would you group these things? • Applying–example: How did your evidence help you determine the answer to your question? Growing a Nation 206

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• Inferring–example: How do you know this is correct? • Relating–example: What factors caused this to happen? Some things to keep in mind when creating or assessing essential questions: • They may have more than one answer • They should be more engaging and challenging • Concepts often cross over from one area of learning to another • Usually occur naturally in real world contexts Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions: • Knowledge: Who, what, where, when, and how? • Comprehension: Explain the meaning of this in your own words. • Application: How is this an example of _____________? • Analysis: Outline or diagram the ________________. • Synthesis: How would you create/design a __________ from what you have learned? • Evaluation: Do you agree? Conference/Interview: Provides teachers an opportunity to assess student thinking as student verbalizes their knowledge. Demonstration/Performance: Presentations of what a student can do before an audience; gives all students an opportunity to show their mastery of subject content. Journaling and Learning Logs: Contain factual information which is less personal and more focused on content. This assessment technique assesses the affective domain of a student’s learning through reflective writing about a concept or topic in a journal or learning log. Integrated Projects: Comprehensive demonstrations of skills and knowledge learned during a unit or over time; there is usually a series of connected interdisciplinary activities which involve both “in class” and “out of class” time. Performance Task: Activities which require students to demonstrate what they know or can do; an individual task that is usually small in scope. Portfolio Self-Assessment: Individual samples of student work which demonstrate what has been learned or accomplished over time. Round-Robin Assessment Questions: Write or type assessment questions onto the center of index cards. Next write or type the answers to the questions randomly on the upper right hand of the index card (be sure the correct answer is not on the same card as the question, see example on next page). Pass out the cards and ask a student to read his or her question on the card; someone in the class has the card with the correct answer in the upper right hand corner. As the questions are read, each student checks his or her card to see if the answer is on their card. If they have the correct answer, they raise their hand and share the answer with the class. It is now their turn to read their question; someone else will have the answer. This “round-robin” continues until all questions have been asked and answered. Source: Northey, S. S. (2005). Handbook on differentiated instruction for middle and high schools. Larchmont, NV: Eye on Education.

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Example Round-Robin Assessment Questions:

A: 10%

A: 5 years

Q: Which state produces the most food?

Q: Why was the Homestead Act repealed in 1976?

A: California

A: The amount of land for homesteading was decreased or taken by other governmental acts.

Q: Which country is our best export customer __________________.

Q: How big is an acre?

A: Canada

A: Football field, including the end zones.

Q: How old did you have to be to file a homestead claim?

Q: The erosion rate by water on U.S. croplands has been reduced by more than ______ since 1982.

A: 21

A: 40%

Q: To file a homestead claim cost $18; how long did you need to stay (build a home and farm) on the land to claim complete ownership?

Q: What allowed farmers to increase production by 300% over the last 40 years?

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A: Research and

Education Q: What is the percentage of the total U.S. population that farms in the United States?

A: 2% Q: While only 2% of the population farms, another 9% supports farmers through science, processing and sales; the number increases to about 20% when you add in transportion, but how many Americans need agriculture every day?

A:100% Q: Which one of these crops is not produced in the United States? wheat, cotton, rice, corn, or soybeans.

A: All are produced in the U.S. Q: What percent of the average U.S. disposable income is spent on food?

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