From Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur: The Transformation of Midwestern Agriculture

"Anyone who wants a thorough understanding of the history of the region must read this book." --R. Douglas Hurt, author of Problems of Plenty: The American

Farmer in the Twentieth Century

This meticulously researched book tells the story of Midwestern agriculture during a period of epochal change in farm technology, farm management, and farm life. The hard work, tight communities, and values that had characterized the family farm were replaced by large corporate enterprises with massive acreages, high-tech methods, and global outlooks. While many decry this change as loss, Nordin and Scott find a net gain. This is their richly detailed account of one of the great transformations in American life.

Dennis S. Nordin is author of Rich Harvest: A History of the Grange, 1867-1900.

Roy V. Scott, Emeritus Professor of History at Mississippi State University, is author of The Agrarian Movement in Illinois, 1880-1896.

Contents

List of Tables

Foreword by John Lee

Preface

1. The Land and the People at the Turn of the Century

2. A Gold-Plated Age of Midwest Farming, 19001920

3. A Defining Era of Adjustment and Reality, 19201932

4. Permanent Impacts of Depression and War on Agriculture, 19331945

5. Scientific and Technological Advances in Agriculture, 19002000

6. Farmers as a Declining Minority, 19451970

7. Farmers' Survivals as Entrepreneurs, 19702000

Notes

Bibliography

Index