Lesson 9

Agricultural Changes in
the Midwest
How has farming changed in the Midwest over time?

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 197

 Introduction
“Tickle the land with a hoe,” boasted a Vocabulary
midwestern farmer, “and the crop will laugh to agribusiness
the harvest.” canning
In the 1800s, boasts like this one were combine
common in the Midwest. Many midwesterners dairy
liked to brag about their farms. They bragged fertilizer
about the farm boy who got stuck on top of pesticide
a cornstalk because the corn grew faster than reaper
he could climb down it. They boasted about
self-sufficient
pumpkins so large that cows could live inside
sod
them. They even told stories about giant
watermelons that were so big that they had to
be pulled out of fields on sleds.
Many of these boasts were false. However,
this much is true: the
Midwest has some of the
richest soil anywhere. And
many crops grow well in the
climate there.
Still, farming in the
Midwest has never been as
easy as tickling the land
with a hoe. The first farmers
who settled there struggled
to overcome hardships.
Farming has changed a lot
since then. New technology
and machines have replaced
most hand tools and animal-
driven plows. Large farming
businesses have replaced
many small farms. But
midwestern farmers still
have to work hard to make a
living from the land.

The Midwest prairie has some of the

richest farmland in the United States.

198 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

Preview Activity
Activity
Online
Examine the two images of farming. Circle in red two things that are the
same then and now. Circle in blue two things that are different then
and now.

What do you think has changed the most in farming over the last two centuries?

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 199

 Vocabulary Activity
Activity
Complete the letter with the correct vocabulary terms. Then sign your Online
name at the bottom.

Vocabulary Word Bank

agribusiness canning combine dairy
fertilizer pesticide reaper self-sufficient
sod

Dear Tahj,

I can’t wait for you to visit me in the Midwest. You’ll get to see
how a family farm is so different from large-scale farming by big
companies, or . We try to do as much as we can to
be so that we can take care of ourselves on our own.
For example, we preserve food after we cook it by
it and sealing it in jars. This helps the food stay good for much longer
than normal.

We have a that I can’t wait to show you. It’s

where we produce all the milk and milk products. We also have a
and a , which are both types of
machines we use to cut grains. We can take a look at all the crops
we have. Some have substances that are added to them called
and .

Don’t worry, our house isn’t made of like houses on

farms a long time ago. The roof won’t drip down on us!

Your friend,

200 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

Hands-On Activity
Activity
Online

Focus on one reading section as you learn about how farming has changed
over the years. Present information to others while you learn from them as well.

Directions: Completing a Jigsaw About Agricultural Changes

1. Read your assigned section from the text.
2. List two things you learned about your topic in the appropriate row
in your Activity Notes.
3. Be prepared to share your notes.
4. Get in a group and learn about other sections from your classmates.
5. Read the other eight sections.

Directions: Trading Farming Information

1. Receive a “Then” or “Now” card. Study the image. It is an image of
farming in the past or the present.
2. Find a partner to make a Then and Now pair.
3. Get your Activity Card about farming and examine the charts and
tables.
4. Answer the questions about an aspect of farming. Record your answers
on a piece of paper.
5. “Buy” and “sell” information to help others learn about your topic.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 201

 1. Farming in the Midwest in 1800 At first, farmers avoided the grassy plains
In 1800, almost all Americans lived on farms. of the Midwest. But they soon learned that
In fact, about 90 out of every 100 people in the prairie soil was deep and rich and good
America lived on a farm. Most farms had only for farming.
as much land as needed to feed one family,
which was often about 10 acres.
Most of these farms were east of the
Appalachian Mountains. However, farmland
was scarce there. Settlers had begun to cross the
mountains looking for new land to farm. By
1810, more than a million Americans lived west
of the Appalachians.
People settled in Ohio, Michigan, and
Indiana. These areas were mostly covered with
forests. Before farmers could plant anything,
they had to chop down the trees to clear the
land.
As people moved farther west into Illinois
and Wisconsin, they found land where the
forests grew thinner. Instead of forests, there
were patches of prairie covered with grasses
and wildflowers. At first, farmers avoided these
prairies because prairie grass has deep, tangled
roots. Farmers did not think that they could
clear the land to get anything else to grow there.
But they soon learned that prairie soil was deep
and rich and good for growing crops.
It was hard work to clear forests and prairies
for planting. Most farmers felt that they were
doing well just to raise enough food to feed
their families.

202 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

2. Farm Tools in 1800
The tools farmers used in 1800 were simple
ones. Farmers used axes to cut down trees. Saws
were then used to cut the trees into logs to build
log cabins. Wood from trees was also used to
make fences and furniture.
A plow with an iron blade was used to
prepare soil for planting. As this blade was
dragged across a field, it dug a long groove
called a furrow.
If farmers were lucky, they had a team of
oxen to pull these plows. Even then, plowing
was slow work. The thick prairie soil stuck to the
iron blades. Farmers had to stop every few steps
to scrape dirt from their plows.
Farmers planted their crops by hand. They
walked up and down their fields, dropping seeds
into the fresh furrows. They hoped the seeds
would take root in this loose soil.
Farmers used a scythe, a curved knife on a
long handle, to harvest their grain crops. Later,
they threshed the grain by beating it with a tool
called a flail. Threshing separates the seeds of
the grain from the rest of the plant.
With these tools, a farmer had to work about
300 hours to raise 100 bushels of wheat. For this Farmers used simple tools during the 1800s.
amount of wheat, he had to plow, plant, and A plow with an iron blade tilled the thick
harvest five acres of land. prairie soil.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 203

 3. The Family Farm in 1800
The first farmhouse most families built was a
log cabin. The typical cabin had one main room
furnished with a table and a few stools. There
was a stone fireplace for cooking and heating.
Cabins could be gloomy inside. Glass was
expensive to buy, so people used greased paper
to cover their small windows. At night, the only
light in the cabin came from the fire and lamps.
Farm families went to bed early and got up
early to work. Family members slept under quilts
made from scraps of cloth and on mattresses
stuffed with oak or beech leaves.
Farm families raised almost all of their own
food. They planted vegetable gardens and fruit
orchards. They kept cows for milk, butter, and
cheese. They raised chickens for eggs and hogs
for meat. They raised sheep for wool that was
used to make clothes. What they could not
produce themselves, they bartered, or traded for,
with neighbors.
Farm families faced many hardships, some of
which prevented families from getting enough
to eat. Wolves attacked farm animals such as
chickens and hogs. Rabbits and deer raided their
gardens. Squirrels and raccoons stole corn from
the cornfields. A farmhouse in 1800 was a one-room
Disease could strike family members at any cabin. Farm families raised almost all their
time. Injuries were also common. Women could own food.
hurt themselves cooking
over open fires. Men
could hurt themselves
working in the fields.
With no doctors nearby,
families did their best to
care for themselves.

204 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

4. Farming in the
Midwest in 1900
In the year 1900,
less than half of all
Americans lived on
farms. About 40 out
of every 100 people
in America lived on a
farm. Most farms were
much larger than the
farms 100 years earlier.
The average farm was
about 150 acres.
The first farmers
on the prairie had
worked hard to be
self-sufficient. Being
By 1900, farmers began to sell crops and
self-sufficient means doing everything necessary
to take care of yourself on your own. Like the livestock for cash. With money in hand,
farmers in the 1800s, these farmers raised their farmers could buy just about everything they
own food and made their own clothes. They did might need at the country store.
not make much money. But they did not have
much need for money, either.
By 1900, farms covered the Midwest. Farmers
on the Central Plains raised corn, pigs, and cows.
Farmers on the Great Plains raised wheat, cattle,
and sheep.
No longer did farmers plant crops on just
enough land to feed their families. Instead,
farmers raised large crops of grain and great
herds of animals. These crops and livestock were
sold for cash. Some farmers had dairies. A dairy
is a farm that produces milk and milk products
that can also be sold for cash.
With more money in their pockets, farmers
could buy more land. They could purchase
machines to help them work that land. And they
could buy the useful new goods coming out of
American factories—such as iron stoves, sewing
machines, and telephones.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 205

 5. Farm Tools in 1900 By 1900, many new farm tools helped
By 1900, Americans had invented many new farmers plant and harvest their crops.
farm tools. Many of these tools had to be pulled A reaper helps these farmers harvest piles
through fields by teams of horses. of hay.
The most important new tool for prairie
farmers was the steel plow. A man named
John Deere invented it in 1837. Deere’s plows
were made with steel blades rather than iron.
Steel blades were sharper and smoother than
iron blades. As a result, steel plows could cut
through the thick prairie soil much more easily
than the earlier iron plows.
Another new tool was a grain-cutting
machine called a reaper. A man named
Cyrus McCormick invented it in 1834. A farmer
could cut much more grain with McCormick’s
reaper than with a scythe.
Other machines became common on farms
in the Midwest in the 1900s. One machine
was the horse-drawn seed drill. It planted
seeds much faster than a farmer could by
hand. Another machine was the horse-drawn
combine. A combine could cut and thresh a
field of grain at the same time.
These inventions helped midwestern farmers
grow more food with less effort. In the early
1800s, a farmer needed to work 300 hours to
raise 100 bushels of wheat. By the 1900s, a
farmer needed to work only 50 hours to raise the
same number of bushels.

206 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

6. The Family Farm in 1900
For most families on the prairie, their first
home was a tent, a log cabin, or a soddie.
Soddies were houses made of blocks of sod,
or dirt mixed with grass roots. When it rained,
soddies dripped mud. “Life is too short,”
wrote one farm woman, “to be spent under a
sod roof.”
As soon as farm families had money saved,
they built houses made of wood boards. By
1900, the typical farmhouse had lots of windows
and a big porch. The largest room was often
the kitchen. Few farmhouses had bathrooms.
Instead, families used an outhouse that stood
outside the main house.
Only the richest farmers could afford such
wonders as electricity and running water. Most
farm families used candles or oil lamps for
lighting. They cooked on wood-burning iron
stoves. They used hand pumps to draw water
from wells.
Everybody worked. Men plowed, planted, and
harvested crops. Women cooked, cleaned, and
cared for the children. In summer, farm women
spent hours canning food from their gardens.
Every child had farm chores, as well. Children Farmhouses built during the 1900s had wood
helped out by chopping wood, drawing water, boards, a front porch, and many windows.
and weeding the garden. They also gathered This Nebraskan family poses proudly in front
eggs, milked cows, and fed the animals. of their new home.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 207

 7. Farming in the Midwest Today
Today, very few Americans live and work
on farms. Only 2 out of every 100 people in
America live on a farm. Some farms are almost
ten times the size of farms 200 years earlier.
The average farm today is just under 450 acres
in size.
Farming in the 21st century is a big business.
If you look at the total number of farms, most
are still owned and run by families. But if you
look at the total amount of farm acres, most
are owned by big companies. We call these
companies agribusinesses.
Farming in the Midwest has changed in
many ways over the past 100 years. Today, most
farmwork is done by machines. Most farmers
add fertilizers to the soil to make plants grow
better. Some fertilizers are natural products.
Other fertilizers are made from chemicals.
Farmers also use chemicals to kill insects
and other pests that attack their crops. These
products are called pesticides.
These changes have helped farmers grow
more food than ever before. But they have
also created new problems. Chemicals used on
crops can be harmful to other living things. For
example, fertilizers and pesticides wash into Crop sprayers can apply pesticides over large
rivers. There, they can kill fish and areas of a field at once. Today, much of the
other wildlife. work on farms is done by machines.

208 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

8. Farm Tools Today Today, machines help farmers produce more
By the year 2000, most of the work of with less. Combines and milking machines
plowing, planting, and picking crops was done reduce the amount of time it takes one
by machines. Gasoline engines supplied the farmer to harvest wheat or milk a cow.
power for these machines, and they still
do today.
The most important new farm machine of
the last 100 years has been the tractor. Farmers
can use tractors in two ways. One way is to pull
heavy loads. A modern tractor can pull more
weight than 100 horses can. The other way is
to power other farm equipment. Farmers use
tractors to pull plows, seed drills, and machines
that harvest their crops.
For dairy farmers, nothing has been more
useful than the milking machine. Before the
invention of milking machines, dairy farmers
had to milk each cow by hand. This was slow
work. Milking machines allow a farmer to milk
many cows at the same time. As a result, dairy
farms are much larger today than they were
in 1900.
New tools have also helped midwestern
farmers grow more food on less land. In 1800,
a farmer needed 5 acres to grow 100 bushels
of wheat. By 2013, the same amount of wheat
could be grown on about 2 acres.
New machines have also reduced the time
it takes to raise 100 bushels of wheat. In 1800,
it took farmworkers 300 hours of labor to raise
that much wheat. Today, it takes less than
3 hours to raise 100 bushels of wheat. That’s a
big difference.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 209

 9. The Family Farm Today
Throughout U.S. history, as the nation
expanded westward, the number of farms
increased. By the 1920s, there were more than
6 million farms in the United States. Today,
there are only 2.2 million farms left in the
United States. Of these, more than 95 percent
are owned by families and individuals. The rest
are agribusinesses.
Why has the number of farms decreased?
In the 1930s, hard times hit the family farm.
Crop prices fell so low that farmers could not
make any money. Then a long drought struck
the Midwest. With no rain, fields turned to dust.
Many families gave up farming. Since then,
farmers have seen some good times and some
bad times. But the number of family farms has
decreased year by year.
Farm families live like most other American
families. They buy their clothes in department Events from the past have shaped the lives
stores. They send their children to school. They of today’s farmers. What changes will the
participate in service and sports organizations. future bring?

Key Events in U.S. Agriculture

1834 – Cyrus McCormick 1932–36 – Drought

invents reaper. hurts Midwest farms.
1980s – Biotechnology
1858 – Steam improves crop and
tractors first used. livestock products.

1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

1919 – Gas 1992 – GPS

tractors first used. first used by
farmers.
1837 – John Deere
invents steel plow. 1945–70 – Number of large,
specialized farms increases.

210 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

Families have computers and use the internet. Today, large agribusinesses compete with
But being rural has its challenges. Internet and family farms. Farmers who cannot make
television broadband service doesn’t always profits have moved on.
extend far away from a town. So, rural farms
may use a satellite to connect.
Every year, however, more families are
leaving the farm way of life. Some get tired of
the hard work. Others do not like the loneliness
of farm life. But the most common reason
why people leave farming today is simply the
day-to-day struggle to make enough money to
pay their bills.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 211

 Hands-On Activity Notes
Activity
Read your assigned section and complete the chart with two things you Online
learned from what you read.

Farming in the Midwest

1800 (Section 1) 1900 (Section 4) Today (Section 7)

Farming Tools
1800 (Section 2) 1900 (Section 5) Today (Section 8)

The Family Farm

1800 (Section 3) 1900 (Section 6) Today (Section 9)

212 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

Summary
As you have seen, farming in the Midwest has changed greatly in 200 years. In
1800, farmers used only hand tools and muscle power to work the land. Most farmers
were able to raise just enough food to feed their families.
Today, large agribusinesses employ workers with gasoline-fueled tractors and
machines to farm the land. Farmers may also use fertilizers that allow more food to
be grown on fewer acres of land. As a result, one farm can raise enough food to feed
many families.
In 1800, farm families grew or made almost everything they needed to live. They
bought very little. Today, farmers grow large amounts of crops for sale. With the
money they earn from selling these crops, farm families can buy goods they need in
stores.
Some things have not changed much in 200 years. Farming was hard work in
1800. It is still hard and risky work today.

Show What You Know

Activity
The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has asked you Online
to write an article about the aspect of farming that has changed the
most since 1800. Select your aspect and complete your article on the next page.

Which of the following aspects are you going to cover?

❒ Farm Technology ❒ Crops and Livestock

❒ Farm Life ❒ Farm Science

Flip the
page

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 213

 Write a paragraph about how this aspect of farming has changed. Then draw
pictures to show how this aspect has changed from then to now.

FARMING CHANGES

Your article title here

214 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute

STUDY YOUR STATE

Agriculture in Your State

You just read about how farming has changed
the lives of people in the Midwest. What kind of
agriculture happens in your state? Are there small
farms where families raise their own food? Are
there large farms that ship their crops and animals
around the world?
There are many books and websites with
information about your state’s agriculture. Do an
internet search for the name of your state with
the words farming and agriculture. If you live in
Virginia, you could find all kinds of information on
the website http://vafarmbureau.org. Be careful
when you choose sources of information since
not all are trustworthy. You can usually trust Virginia has more than 46,000 farms. Some
sources that come from governments (ending of its top products are apples, peanuts,
in .gov) or large organizations (.org). Be careful turkeys, and chickens. Agriculture provides
with sources that were created for more than 357,000 jobs in the state.
class projects or are by individuals.
Make a list of your state’s farm
products. Research and write down
facts about each, such as where it
is grown or raised. You might also
ask questions such as: How much
is produced each year? Where is it
sold? Do factories in the state put
the food in packages?
For example, in Virginia,
chickens are one of the top
agriculture products. The
Shenandoah Valley has many
poultry farms and packaging
factories. About 250 million
chickens are raised in the state
each year. They are sent to China,
Canada, and other countries.

© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest 215

 This is a map of the
agriculture products
in Virginia. The map
of your state may
show similar crops
and animals.

Farms Make a Difference

Next, make a large map of your state that
you can use to show how agriculture affects the
land and the people. Start with a blank state
map. Label your state’s regions or large cities.
Label bodies of water, highways, and railroads
that may be used to transport farm products.
Add pictures of the crops that are grown and the
animals that are raised.
Now, use your map and your researched facts
to explain to your classmates why farms may
be located in certain regions and how the farms
affect the people who live in your state. This will
include the food people eat, the jobs they have,
and what their environment looks like.
Tell your classmates how farms also affect
the people in your state’s cities. For example,
there has been an apple-processing factory in
Winchester, Virginia, since 1908. Many people
who work there have grandparents who worked
there years ago. The factory makes applesauce
from apples grown in local Virginia orchards.
Summarize your explanation. Ask your
classmates to tell you what they learned about
agriculture in your state.

216 Lesson 9 Agricultural Changes in the Midwest © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute