Provides a solid foundation for understanding American agricultural history and offers new directions for researchA Companion to American Agricultural History addresses the key aspects of America's complex agricultural past from 8,000 BCE to the first decades of the twenty-first century. Bringing together more than thirty original essays by both established and emerging scholars, this innovative volume presents a succinct and accessible overview of American agricultural history while delivering a state-of-the-art assessment of modern scholarship on a diversity of subjects, themes, and issues.The essays provide readers with starting points for their exploration of American agricultural history--whether in general or in regards to a specific topic--and highlights the many ways the agricultural history of America is of integral importance to the wider American experience. Individual essays trace the origin and development of agricultural politics and policies, examine changes in science, technology, and government regulations, offer analytical suggestions for new research areas, discuss matters of ethnicity and gender in American agriculture, and more. This Companion:* Introduces readers to a uniquely wide range of topics within the study of American agricultural history* Provides a narrative summary and a critical examination of field-defining works* Introduces specific topics within American agricultural history such as agrarian reform, agribusiness, and agricultural power and production* Discusses the impacts of American agriculture on different groups including Native Americans, African Americans, and European, Asian, and Latinx immigrants* Views the agricultural history of America through new interdisciplinary lenses of race, class, and the environment* Explores depictions of American agriculture in film, popular music, literature, and artA Companion to American Agricultural History is an essential resource for introductory students and general readers seeking a concise overview of the subject, and for graduate students and scholars wanting to learn about a particular aspect of American agricultural history.

Notes on Contributors ixIntroduction 1R. Douglas HurtPart I Regional 31 Native American Agriculture before European Contact 5Gayle Fritz2 North American Colonial Agriculture 23Taylor Spence3 Early National America, 1789-1830: Laying the Foundation for Nineteenth-Century Agricultural Growth 37James L. Huston4 Agricultural Power and Production in Antebellum America 47Kelly Houston Jones5 Making the Rural Midwest: Commodities and Communities 60J.L. Anderson6 The Great Plains 75Thomas D. Isern7 Post-Civil War Southern Agriculture 89Jeannie Whayne8 Three Eras of California Agriculture: Wheat, Specialty Crops, Cotton 102David Vaught9 American Indian Agriculture 115David H. DeJong10 Cities and Agriculture in America 129Andrew C. BakerPart II Science, Technology, and Environment 14511 The Historians' Corner: American Agricultural Science 147Alan I Marcus12 Agricultural Technology 161Paul Nienkamp13 Plant Sciences: A Brief History 175Karen-Beth G. Scholthof14 A Counterculture Agriculture: Organic Farming in a Commercial Food Age 188David D. Vail15 Agricultural History's Agroecological Turn 200Mark D. Hersey and Albert G. WayPart III Ethnicity and Gender 21316 African Americans in Twentieth-Century Agriculture 215Cherisse Jones-Branch17 Gender and Agriculture 229Sara Egge18 Migrant Labor 244Nancy GabinPart IV Politics and Policy 25519 Evolving Boundaries: "The People's Department" across Three Centuries 257Anne Effland20 Agrarian Reform: The Grange, the Farmers' Alliance, and Populism 272Connie L. Lester21 Agricultural Organization in the Twentieth Century: Progressives, Radicals, and Social Activists 286Nancy K. Berlage22 The Development of American Agricultural Policy 300Jonathan Coppess23 Irrigation, Reclamation, and Water Rights 314Brian Q. Cannon24 Consumers, Producers, and the Shifting Logic of Food Safety 327Kendra Smith-Howard25 Meatpacking 341Wilson J. Warren26 Agribusiness 354Peter A. CoclanisPart V Culture 37127 Rural Life 373Megan Birk28 Agriculture and Art 389Travis Nygard29 Agriculture in US Literature 409Kathryn C. Dolan30 The Blues, Country Music, and American Agriculture 421Joseph M. Thompson31 Agriculture and Film 436Debra A. ReidBibliography 453Sara E. MorrisIndex 551