Draft horse
Manual cradle to harvest grain
Threshing crew at work
Tractor with 5 wagons attached
Spring plowing
Farm foreclosure
Harvesting Oats
Pioneer Women
Farm Machinery Production
Soil Makes It Possible
Farm Women
Responsible FarmingFarmers and Farm Life
Iowa
has long been known as a good place to grow food. The state has fertile soil
and enough rainfall to produce excellent crops.
Pioneer Farms
When European settlers began to
arrive in Iowa in the 1830s, most were farmers. These farmers had simple tools
and machines. They had to work hard to plow the virgin tall grass prairie.
When the prairie sod was first plowed, settlers heard loud popping noises
as the deep prairie plant roots snapped. Iowa’s farmers planted many
different crops including rye, oats, sorghum (used in making molasses), hay,
corn and soybeans. They also raised chickens, hogs and cattle.
Women raised large gardens that provided most of the family’s food.
Children helped in the garden by pulling weeds. Girls helped their mothers
with housework, and boys helped their fathers in the barn and in the field.
Everyone’s work went according to the seasons. In the spring crops were
planted, and in the fall they were harvested. Gardening and canning were done
in the summer and quilting, sewing and mending in the winter. Some work—such as milking, preparing meals, and taking care of children—had to
be done in every season.
As new machines that made farming easier were invented, families were able
to produce larger quantities of crops and could sell most of what they harvested
to others.
Hard Times and Government Help
Most years Iowa’s farm families
have had good crops, but some years the crops fail. Drought
has often been the main cause of crop failure. Some years farm families also
do poorly because of lowa farm prices. During these years some families lose
their farms or have little money to live on.
The depression of the 1930s was the worst time. Banks closed so farmers could
not borrow money to carry on their farming operations. Hundreds of families
lost their land and had to move from the farm. An Iowan, Henry A. Wallace,
was the secretary of agriculture at that time. In 1933 he set up a farm program
to help farmers. The program paid farmers to stop farming part of their land. This program was designed to help reduce the surplus of crops.
Continuous
Change
In the 1950s farm operations began
to change. Farmers began to raise fewer types of crops, specializing in growing
one or two things. Families got rid of their cows. Women stopped raising chickens
and often had smaller gardens. More and more farm women began working in nearby
towns to help support their families.
As technology has improved, farm families have been able to increase the number
of acres they tend. The average size of an Iowa farm in 1950 was 170 acres.
In 2000 the average acreage was 340 acres. This has caused the number of Iowa
farms to drop from 200,000 in 1950 to 94,000 in 2000.
More farmers are using soil conservation
methods. Farmers are not plowing their fields as often or as deep. This helps
to keep soil from blowing away. Some farmers are planting buffer strips—wide strips of grass—along waterways.
These practices help to prevent erosion
of soil and water pollution.
Current farm programs are different from the 1930s, but farmers still receive
money from the federal government to help them in hard times. In Iowa government
officials are also working to help farmers sell more of their crops. One way
is to encourage other countries to buy more farm products. Another way is
to find more uses for Iowa’s crops. Examples include using soybean oil
as machine grease and using corn to make ethanol.
Ethanol is added to gasoline to help reduce pollution. These programs will
help bring more prosperity
to Iowa farm families.
