16th-18th
Centuries |
16th century
Spanish cattle introduced into the
Southwest
17th and 18th centuries
All forms of domestic livestock,
except turkeys, were imported at some time
17th and 18th centuries
Crops borrowed from Indians included
maize, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds, squashes, watermelons,
beans, grapes, berries, pecans, black walnuts, peanuts, maple sugar, tobacco,
and cotton; white potatoes indigenous to South America
17th and 18th centuries
New U.S. crops from Europe included
clover, alfalfa, timothy, small grains, and fruits and vegetables
17th and 18th centuries
African slaves introduced grain
and sweet sorghum, melons, okra, and peanuts
18th centuries
Tobacco was the chief cash crop
of the South |
| 1776-99 |
 1793
First Merino sheep imported
1795-1815
The sheep industry in New England
was greatly emphasized |
| 1800 |
 1805-15
Cotton began to replace tobacco
as the chief southern cash crop
1810-15
Demand for Merino sheep sweeps the
country
1815-25
Competition with western farm areas
began to force New England farmers out of wheat and meat production and
into dairying, trucking, and, later, tobacco production
1815-30
Cotton became the most important
cash crop in the Old South
1819
Secretary of Treasury instructed
consuls to collect seeds, plants, and agricultural inventions
1820's
Poland-China and Duroc-Jersey swine
were being developed, and Berkshire swine were imported
1821
Edmund Ruffin's first Essay on Calcareous
Manures |
| 1810 |
| 1820 |
| 1830 |
1836-62
Patent Office collected agricultural
information and distributed seeds
1830's-1850's
Improved transportation to the West
forced eastern staple growers into more varied production for nearby urban
centers |
| 1840 |
 1840
Justos Liebig's Organic Chemistry
appeared
1840-1850
New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio
were the chief wheat States
1840-60
Hereford, Ayrshire, Galloway, Jersey,
and Holstein cattle were imported and bred
1846
First herdbook for Shorthorn cattle
1849
First poultry exhibition in the
United States |
| 1850 |
1850's
Commercial corn and wheat belts
began to develop; wheat occupied the newer and cheaper land west of the
corn areas, and was constantly being forced westward by rising land values
and the encroachment of the corn areas
1850's
Alfalfa grown on the west coast
1858
Grimm alfalfa introduced |
| 1860 |
 1860's
The Cotton Belt began to move westward
1860's
The corn Belt began stabilizing
in its present area
1860
Wisconsin and Illinois were the
chief wheat States
1866-86
The days of the cattlemen on the
Great Plains |
| 1870 |
 1870's
Increased specialization in farm
production
1870
Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio were the
chief wheat States
1870
Foot-and-mouth disease first reported
in the United States
1874-76
Grasshopper plagues serious in the
West
1877
U.S. Entomological Commission established
for work on grasshopper control |
| 1880 |
1880's
The cattle industry moved into the
western and southwestern Great Plains
1882
Bordeau mixture (fungicide) discovered
in France and soon used in the United States
1882
Robert Koch discovered tubercle
bacillus
Mid-1880's
Texas was becoming the chief cotton
State
1886-87
Blizzards, following drought and
overgrazing, disastrous to northern Great Plains cattle industry
1889
Bureau of Animal Industry discovered
carrier of tick fever |
| 1890 |
 1890
Minnesota, California, and Illinois
were the chief wheat States
1890
Babcock butterfat test devised
1892
Boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande
and began to spread north and east
1892
Eradication of pleuropneumonia
1899
Improved method of anthrax inoculation |
| 1900 |
1900-10
Turkey red wheat was becoming important
as commercial crop
1900-20
Extensive experimental work was
carried out to breed disease-resistant varieties of plants, to improve
plant yield and quality, and to increase the productivity of farm animal
strains
1903
Hog cholera serum developed
1904
First serious stem-rust epidemic
affecting wheat |
| 1910 |
1910
North Dakota, Kansas, and Minnesota
were the chief wheat States
1910
Durum wheats were becoming important
commercial crops
1910
35 States and territories required
tuberculin testing of all entering cattle
1910-20
Grain production reached into the
most arid sections of the Great Plains
1912
Marquis wheat introduced
1912
Panama and Colombia sheep developed
1917
Kansas red wheat distributed |
| 1920 |
 1926
Ceres wheat distributed
1926
First hybrid-seed corn company organized
1926
Targhee sheep developed |
| 1930 |
 1930-35
Use of hybrid-seed corn became common
in the Corn Belt
1934
Thatcher wheat distributed
1934
Landrace hogs imported from Denmark
1938
Cooperative organized for artificial
insemination of dairy cattle |
| 1940 |
 1940's
and 1950's
Acreages of crops, such as oats,
required for horse and mule feed dropped sharply as farms used more tractors
1945-55
Increased use of herbicides and
pesticides
1947
United States began formal cooperation
with Mexico to prevent spread of foot-and-mouth disease |
| 1950 |
1955
Sterile flies used for screwworm control |
| 1960 |
 1960's
Soybean acreage expanded as farmers
used soybeans as an alternative to other crops
1960
96% of corn acreage planted with
hybrid seed
1961
Gaines wheat distributed
1966
Fortuna wheat distributed |
| 1970 |
1970
Plant Variety Protection Act
1970
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Norman
Borlaug for developing high-yielding wheat varieties
1975
Lancota wheat introduced
1978
Hog cholera officially declared
eradicate
1979
Purcell winter wheat introduced |
| 1980-90 |
1980's
Biotechnology became a viable technique
for improving crop and livestock products
1883-84
Avian influenza of poultry eradicated
before it spread beyond a few Pennsylvania counties
1986
Antismoking campaigns and legislation
began to affect the tobacco industry |
| 