Friday Feature: Documentary on the Mechanization of American Crop Farming

by | Jun 28, 2024 | Ag History, Farm Equipment, Field Crops, General Agriculture

This week’s featured video was published on YouTube back in February of this year.  This video is a little different than most off the others I have shared, as it is almost an hour long.  Yes I know that is a long video, but it does a great job highlighting the mechanization of American Agriculture that started at the end of the 19th century and really took off in the 1920s and 30s.  Harvest machines were the first to be developed, but early in the 20th century there was a race to develop every day use powered farm equipment.  The goal was to develop tractors and implements to replace the horse and mule equipment with the technology that transformed the U.S. Farming Industry into a world power.  In 1870, half the population of the U.S. were farmers that utilized 5 million draft animals to power the farm work.  From 1870 to 1920 the herd of draft horses and mules grew to over 25 million that were soon replaced with powered equipment.  First came steam powered machines that reduced harvest labor, and what followed were the tractor wars to develop light weight yet powerful tractors that farmers could use and eliminate acres devoted to producing feed for draft animals and focus solely on raising cash crops.  Watch this fascinating video that highlights how Henry Ford, John Deere, and International Harvester won the race over more than 100 start up companies that developed the best tools to mechanize crop production.  I hope you can carve out some time this week as we celebrate the founding of this nation on July 4th to also celebrate the innovation in agriculture that our forefathers invested in to make U.S. Agriculture what it is today.

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If you enjoyed this video, you might want to check the other 300+ YouTube videos highlighted in the  Friday Feature Archive

If you come across an interesting, inspiring, humorous or innovative video related to agriculture, please send in a link, so we can share it with our readers.  Use the share button from the YouTube or Facebook video you like and send the link via email to:  Doug Mayo

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