Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
decreasing productivity in rural agriculture would come increasing costs of
living in urban areas, especially troubling for employers in times of labor
unrest and increasing unionism. These interconnected factors—the rise
of farm-based political groups (especially the Grange) and the increasing
sense that farm productivity and effi ciency were inferior to other indus-
tries—shaped the sense that something was wrong with U.S. agriculture,
and commentators began to suggest ways in which it might be repaired.
2
This changed perception still regarded the health and vitality of U.S.
farming as a crucial foundation of the nation but eliminated the ideal of
independence from the Jeffersonian vision and replaced it with plans for
intervention and repair (Danbom 1979). For instance, some critics sug-
gested that farmers had become too focused on physical labor without
cultivating the knowledge for a productive and sustainable agricultural
economy. Discussions about potential repair solutions also set in place a
set of oppositions that actors could use to frame their perception of the
farm problem, including knowledge versus ignorance and effi ciency versus
stagnation. In each case, reform-minded critics of agriculture's decline sup-
posed that supplying whatever was missing from U.S. farming, such as
knowledge or effi ciency, would restore the health of farming and farm
communities, preserving their status as the backbone of democracy.
These assumptions infl uenced the development of the land-grant system
of agricultural research and education in the United States.
3
The land-grant
system was founded in the latter half of the nineteenth century, following
the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862. The Morrill Act granted states
30,000 acres of land per member of Congress, and the land was to be sold
in order to fund universities that would train the rural populace in agri-
culture and other practical vocations. Many states readily established uni-
versities under the land-grant system, including the University of California
campus at Berkeley, founded in 1868. In fact, today, when someone refers
to a state university in the United States, they are likely referring to a uni-
versity that was founded under the Morrill Act.
Although the Morrill Act originated the widespread system of state uni-
versities in the United States, its legacy extends beyond the campuses.
Through its prescription for a certain kind of education for a certain group
of people, the legislation created what became known as the land-grant
mission. The mission described in the Morrill Act dictates that the land-
grant universities focus on “such branches of learning as are related to
