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Agriculture
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4000 BC |
People in the Yellow River Valley switched from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Links: China, Agriculture, HistoryBC 
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3800 BC |
The Supe people, a maritime farming community, was established about this time along the coast of Peru. Links: Peru, Agriculture, HistoryBC
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3600 BC |
The Supe people, a maritime farming community along the coast of Peru, disappeared about this time. In 2009 researchers found their disappearance coincided with earthquakes and landslides followed by massive flooding. Links: Peru, Earthquake, Agriculture, HistoryBC, Flood
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1601 |
Large portions of Russia received heavy rains in the summer of 1601, and by the end of the growing season it was clear that most crops would fail. This was later related to a major earthquake in Peru in 1600. Links: Russia, Peru, Earthquake, Agriculture
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1602 1603 |
In Russia agricultural failure in 1601 led to widespread starvation in both 1602 and 1603. It claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million people, or about one-third of the population, and more than 100,000 died in Moscow alone. Government inability to alleviate both the calamity and the subsequent unrest eventually led to the overthrow of Czar Boris Godunov, a defining event in Russian history. Links: Russia, Food, Agriculture
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1701 |
Jethro Tull (1674-1741), a farmer in Berkshire, England, created a horse-drawn mechanical drill to plant seeds in a row. Links: Britain, Technology, Agriculture
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1835 |
The San Ysidro church was built on the outskirts of Santa Fe, NM. It was named after the patron saint of farmers. Links: USA, New Mexico, Agriculture
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1859 |
The Shafter family of San Francisco bought 50,000 acres of West Marin pastures for dairy farms. The land was eventually divided into individual ranches, each designated by a letter. In 2009 the B Ranch shut down dairy production due to falling milk prices and rising costs. Links: USA, SF, SF Bay Area, Agriculture, Real Estate
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1887 Feb 4 |
The US federal Interstate Commerce Commission Act was passed. It was enacted to restrict monopolies but did not have much power of enforcement. It regulated railroads and protected farmers from fees that it judged excessive. The US Congress designated rail a common-carrier service. Links: USA, Agriculture
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1908 Dec 1 |
The US Dept. of Agriculture as of this day restricted opium imports to the US based on morphine content. Opium with under 3% morphine, which included opium for smoking, was restricted. This severely impacted the customs revenue in San Francisco and created an uproar in the city’s Chinatown. The law became effective as of April 1, 2009. Links: USA, SF, Drugs, Agriculture
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1921 |
Col. J.G. Boswell, a cotton farmer from Georgia whose business was ruined by the boll weevil, arrived in California and began to acquire land in the central valley. The Boswell family took advantage of federal programs to stop droughts and floods and helped get the Army Corps of Engineers to build Pine Flat Dam, which drained Lake Tulare. In 1952 his nephew J.G. Boswell II (1923-2009) took control of the company. In 2003 Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman authored "The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire." Links: USA, California, Biography, Agriculture
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1922 Feb 18 |
Pres. Harding signed the Capper-Volstead Act. It exempted farmers from federal antitrust laws permitting them to share prices and orchestrate supply. Links: USA, Food, HardingW, Agriculture
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1930 May 13 |
A farmer was killed in a hailstorm near Lubbock, Texas. His death became the only US death officially attributed to hail. Links: USA, Texas, WeatherUS, Agriculture
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1930 Nov 13 |
In California the Fresno Bee reported that Al Capone, Chicago gangland leader, had banned the sale of grape juice concentrates in Chicago. The order was said to be a warning to California grape farmers that they need his approval to sell their products in certain markets. Links: USA, California, Chicago, Agriculture
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1932 |
In Mali French colonial authorities planned a 2.47 million acre irrigation project to grow cotton and rice and to develop hydropower in the Mali desert. By 1982 only 6% of the region was developed. The World Bank took over in 1985 with some success in farming rice. Links: Mali, France, World Bank, Food, Agriculture
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1933 |
The Minnesota Mortgage Moratorium Law of 1933 was enacted to help farmers hold on to their property during the Depression. Links: USA, Minnesota, Agriculture, Real Estate
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1935 |
In Australia cane toads (Bufo marinus) from Hawaii were introduced to wipe out beetles that were devastating Queensland's sugar cane industry. The beetles survived and the toads became a pest and a threat to the native quolls, small spotted marsupials. On March 28, 2009, a festive mass killing of the creatures began as “Toad Day Out.” The corpses were turned into fertilizer for the very farmers who've battled the pests for years. Links: Australia, Food, Animal, Hawaii, Agriculture
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1942 |
The US Dept. of Agriculture produced the film “Hemp for Victory,” which urged farmers to grow hemp after Japan’s seizure of the Philippines curtailed supply. Links: USA, Japan, Philippines, Film, Agriculture
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1944 |
Dr. Norman Borlaug (b.1914), a microbiologist on the staff of the du Pont de Nemours Foundation, arrived in Mexico to deal with the failure of the wheat crop caused by stem rust. In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for developing new strains of wheat as well as systems for fertilizing and nurturing growth. Links: Microbiology, Mexico, Food, Agriculture
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1946 Apr |
The British Labour government authorized a mission to visit suitable sites in its Tanganyika colony to cultivate groundnuts. The British Labour government of Clement Attlee had come up with a plan to cultivate tracts of what later became Tanzania with peanuts in a plan that came to be called the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme. It was abandoned at considerable cost to the taxpayers when it did not become profitable. Links: Britain, Tanzania, Agriculture
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1950 |
A stem rust outbreak destroyed nearly 70% of North American wheat crops before a resistant wheat was developed. In 2005 a mutating strain dubbed Ug99 spread across East Africa and threatened crops worldwide. Links: USA, Agriculture
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1952 |
In Egypt some 2,000 vast estates occupied half the country’s fertile land and millions of illiterate peasants toiled as sharecroppers. Links: Egypt, Agriculture
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1953 |
Bolivia’s agrarian reform of 1953, born of the1952 revolution, was adversely affected by corruption and pressure groups. By 1996, 55 million hectares had been handed over to large landholders, and 45 million hectares to small farmers. Links: Bolivia, Agriculture, Corruption
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1953 1955 |
Bolivia’s President Paz Estenssoro established universal suffrage. The government reduced the size and budget of the armed forces. The three major tin companies were nationalized, to be run by the Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Comibol). Strongly influenced by peasants, the government enacted sweeping agrarian reform. Miners organized the Bolivian Labor Federation (COB). Links: Bolivia, Labor, Agriculture
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1954 Jul 10 |
Pres. Eisenhower signed Public Law 480, the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, which later became known as the “Food for Peace” program. Links: USA, Food, Agriculture, EisenhowerD
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1963 Mar |
Norman Borlaug, plant breeder, arrived in India and began testing new varieties of Mexican wheat, whose yields were shown to be 4-5 times better than Indian varieties. In 1970 he won the Nobel Prize for his development of high-yield wheat varieties for which he was dubbed father of the "Green Revolution." Links: India, Food, BioTech, Agriculture
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1963 |
India’s huge Bhakra dam was built in Himachal Pradesh. It brought 7 million hectares of northwest India under irrigation. Links: India, Agriculture
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1965 |
California State Assemblyman John Williamson (d.1998 at 85) authored the California Land Conservation Act that offered tax breaks to farmers who agreed not to sell their property for at least 10 years. In 1998 the Williamson Act was amended to increase the farm preservation contracts from 10 to 30 years. Links: USA, California, Environment, Agriculture
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1965 |
International Harvester introduced its turbocharged Farmall 1206 tractor. Links: USA, Agriculture
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1968 |
The Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan began shrinking about this time after Soviet engineers diverted water from its 2 feeder streams, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. The water was diverted to a massive dam and irrigation system for cotton production. Links: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Environment, USSR, Agriculture
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1969 |
Refco, a futures trading company, was founded as Ray E. Friedman and Co. and served as a middleman between farmers and food buyers. The company went public in 2005 at $22 per share and filed for bankruptcy 6 weeks later. Links: USA, Food, Agriculture
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1969 1973 |
The US Air Force dropped 539,129 tons of bombs on Cambodia and killed some 700,000 people. The bombing drove rural people into the cities and caused a collapse of the agricultural system that contributed to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and a famine that was later blamed on the Khmer Rouge. Links: USA, Cambodia, Agriculture
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1970 Apr 10 |
In California grape grower Lionel Steinberg (d.1999 at 79) signed the initial contract with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1970 Oct |
The Nobel Peace Prize was won by Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) for his development of high-yield wheat varieties for which he was dubbed father of the "Green Revolution." In 2006 Leon Hesser authored ”The Man Who Fed the World,” a biography of Borlaug. Links: Nobel Prize, Food, Biography, Agriculture
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1971 May 26 |
Juan Corona (b.1934) was arrested for 25 murders. The farm labor contractor from Yuba City Ca., had killed and mutilated 25 farm workers. He was convicted to life in prison. Links: USA, California, Murder, Agriculture
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1971 |
The Consultative Group on Int’l. Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was founded. Links: Agriculture
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1971 |
Stephen Gaskin (b.1935) and some 300 hundred San Francisco hippies started the Tennessee rural commune called The Farm. It was located on a 1,750 acre property in Lewis County and based not on rules but on agreements. Links: USA, Tennessee, SF, Agriculture
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1971 |
An Arizona law under Gov. Jack Williams (1909-1998) outlawed secondary boycotts and harvest-time strikes, tools used by the growing UFW. Links: Labor, Arizona, Agriculture
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1972 Jul 8 |
The US signed an agreement to sell grain to USSR for $750 million. Soviet grain buyers over 6 weeks purchased the US grain. This was later called the "great grain robbery" and the privately-held agribusiness giant Cargill played a major role. The story of Cargill was told in the 1998 book "Cargill Going Global" by Wayne Broehl Jr. Links: Russia, USA, USSR, Agriculture
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1972 |
The US government outlawed the pesticide DDT. It followed the suit filed by Ralph Abascal (d.1997 at 63) of California Rural Legal Assistance on behalf of six farmworkers. The federal law prevented California’s Montrose Chemical Co. from dumping DDT into the ocean off the Palos Verdes peninsula. Links: USA, Environment, Insects, Agriculture
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1972 |
In Britain environmental activists founded WWOOF, Weekend Workers on Organic Farms. Weekend was later replaced by Willing. Links: Britain, Agriculture
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1973 Aug 21 |
Teamster's Union and AFL-CIO's United Farm Workers' union came to a settlement with regard to organizing grape growers in California. In response Cesar Chavez called an end to the UFW grape strike. A nationwide boycott of California’s non-union grapes, lettuce and Gallo wines was stepped up. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1973 |
Oregon adopted “urban growth boundaries” (UGBs) setting rules limiting urban sprawl and preserving farmland. Links: USA, Oregon, Agriculture
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1974 Feb 22 |
Cesar Chavez began a UFW march from Union Square in SF to Gallo headquarters in Modesto. Links: USA, California, Labor, SF, Agriculture
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1975 May 3 |
Gov. Jerry Brown of California began a round of private meetings to resolve the issues between the UFW, agribusiness, and the Teamsters Union. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1975 Jun 5 |
Gov. Jerry Brown of California announced the new Agricultural Labor Relations Act. It was a temporary truce in the struggle between the state’s farm workers (UFW) led by Cesar Chavez and farmers. Chavez officially ended the table grape, lettuce and wine boycott on Jan 31, 1978. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1975 Jul 1 |
Cesar Chavez and sixty supporters of the UFW embarked on a thousand-mile march across California to rally the state’s farm workers. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1975 |
The short-handled hoe ("el cortito") was banished from California’s farm fields due to its debilitating effect on worker’s health. Links: USA, California, Agriculture
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1975 |
Peru’s sugar output peaked at 1 million tons. Links: Peru, Agriculture
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1976 Oct 4 |
Agriculture secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he'd made about blacks. Links: USA, Agriculture
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1976 Nov 2 |
Voters in California rejected Prop. 14, an initiative that proposed to add to the state constitution the funding provisions and rights of organizers (UFW) to enter farm fields to talk to workers. Opposition to the initiative was run by the Dolphin Group, an influential lobbying firm. Links: USA, California, Agriculture
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1977 |
Wendell Berry (b.1934) authored "The Unsettling of America," a treatise against the industrialization of agriculture. Links: USA, Food, Books, Agriculture
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1977 |
The Teamsters Union under Frank Fitzsimmons gave up their efforts to sign up California farm field workers and accepted the UFW Union as the union for field workers. Links: California, Labor, Agriculture
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1978 |
John Metzer started Metzer’s Farms in the Gabilan foothills of Salinas, Ca. He initially sold balut eggs, partially incubated duck eggs with fully formed embryos. Links: USA, California, Agriculture
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1979 Feb |
Farm workers in California began a mass walkout in the UFW supported great lettuce strike. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1979 Mar 8 |
Cesar Chavez led some 5,000 striking farmworkers on a march through the streets of Salinas, Ca. Links: USA, California, Labor, Agriculture
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1979 Jul 31 |
Cesar Chavez began a 12-day march from SF to Salinas to dramatize the 6-month strike of the United Farm Workers. Links: USA, California, Agriculture
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1980 |
PBS aired the documentary “The Battle of Westlands” co-produced by by Carol MonPere (1934-2006). It highlighted the struggle of family farms in the Central Valley of California as large agricultural corporations moved in. Links: USA, California, TV, Agriculture
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1980 2006 |
Rising temperatures in Greenland allowed for an increase in farmland from 620 acres to 2,500 acres over this period. Links: Greenland, Agriculture
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1980 |
In California Ellen Strauss (d.2001 at 75) and Phyllis Faber founded the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to prevent urban sprawl. It was the 1st private, non-profit organization of its kind in the US. It bought development rights from farmers but allowed the farmers to continue working their farms and passing them on to heirs as long as the land remained agricultural. Links: USA, California, Environment, Agriculture
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