Pub. 4 2014 Issue 3

8 AT THE CENTER OF UTAH INDUSTRY A FARMING PERSPECTIVE F arming has been critical to the United States economy since our founding. Agricultural sci- ence and commerce were popular interests among fashionable European aristocrats during the 1700s, and the leaders of colonial and revolu- tionary America. • In 1785, the Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Agriculture was organized, followed by the Berkshire Agricultural Society in 1811. • Many agricultural societies and fairs took place, with government help, between 1817 and 1825. • During the 1850s, the Midwest saw the beginning of many farmers’ clubs, and in 1852 the U.S. Agricultural Society was organized. The Morrill Act of 1862, also known as the Land Grant College Act and signed into law by Abraham Lincoln, set up state institutions to educate people in practical professions that included agri- culture. Based on the 1860 census, each state was given 30,000 acres of land for each member of Congress. The land, or the proceeds from its sale, was used to support the establishment and funding for colleges throughout the U.S. A hundred years ago, half the U.S. population lived in rural areas and 30 percent of all workers were employed on farms. Comparatively speaking, though, farming was not very productive. Lead- ers in government understood that as a nation, it was important to improve our agriculture knowledge. Toward that end, the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 solidi- fied funding and educational outreach so people could learn the practical art of growing food and receive support from county, state, and federal levels of government. The extension system created by Congress to facilitate an agricultural revolution successfully increased the amount of food farmers could grow. As an example of the difference made by innovative farming techniques, consider the effort and land required to grow 100 bushels of corn in three separate years: • In 1945, 100 bushels of corn re- quired 14 hours of work and two acres of land.