Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
as the second most profitable cash crop and was grown on the best lands in the
NCR. Today, NCR soybean acreage is about the same as corn acreage, although
the proportion can be affected by fluctuating corn ethanol prices (Feng and
Babcock 2010).
The Industrialization of North Central Region Agriculture
By 1950 corn and soybean farming underwent post-World War II industrializa-
tion. Larger equipment was being used to plant, till, spray, and harvest crops. In
addition, new varieties were developed to suit large-scale corn and soybean pro-
duction, and new fertilizers and application methods were deployed. The advent
of the insecticide DDT in the 1940s heralded the chemical era that grew expo-
nentially during the 1960s and 1970s as the use of biocides expanded (Van Den
Bosch 1978). Insecticides targeted insects such as rootworms (
Diabrotica
spp.),
stalk worms including the European corn borer (
Ostrinia nubilalis
Hübner), and
various insect defoliators. Herbicides also came into widespread use, with multiple
types and formulations developed to combat both grass and broad-leaf weeds. And
new types of fungicides were developed to attack plant diseases like root rot, mil-
dew, and foliar pathogens.
Government subsidies for irrigation and advances in irrigation technology
allowed cropland to expand west of the Mississippi. The Ogallala Aquifer, which
underlies much of the Great Plains region, was tapped to supply water to row
crops. Over 170,000 wells were drilled to enable corn production on land that
without irrigation was ecologically suitable only for wheat. By 1977, 1.4 mil-
lion ha (3.5 million acres) were irrigated by center pivot irrigation systems in
Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado. This enabled the development of both
corn feedlots for cattle and decentralized, regional slaughtering facilities in these
states (Hudson 1994), and led to the demise of the Chicago stockyards, most of
which closed by 1970.
Increased international demand for corn also drove up production. This demand
in the mid-1970s was met, in part, by abolishment of the Soil Bank—a government
subsidy program initiated in 1956 that took agricultural land out of production to
reduce crop surplus. As a result, millions of acres of land were put into corn produc-
tion. For example, nearly 163,000 ha (402,721 acres) of corn were newly planted on
drained wetlands in Michigan's Saginaw Bay watershed between 1969 and 1978.
Currently, corn is the largest U.S. crop in both volume and value. Iowa, Illinois,
Nebraska, and Minnesota account for more than 50% of U.S. corn production. Other
major corn-producing states include Indiana, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan,
Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, and Kentucky. Today's U.S. corn crop has three principal
uses: animal feed, ethanol, and direct human consumption. Of the 13.13 billion
bushels of corn used during the marketing year of September 2010 through August
2011, uses included: 38% for ethanol production; 38% for livestock feed and resid-
ual; 14% for export; 8% for high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, dextrose, and starch;
and ~2% for cereals and other products (ERS 2011a). By 2015 about half of the
2009-equivalent corn crop is expected to be used for ethanol, with important envi-
ronmental implications (Robertson et al. 2011).
