R. DOUGLAS HURT is a Professor of History at Purdue University. He served as President of the Agricultural History Society and is a former editor of Agricultural History, Missouri Historical Review, and Ohio History. Professor Hurt is the author and editor of numerous books including American Agriculture: A Brief History and Food and Agriculture during the Civil War.

Notes on Contributors ix Introduction 1 R. Douglas Hurt Part I Regional 3 1 Native American Agriculture before European Contact 5 Gayle Fritz 2 North American Colonial Agriculture 23 Taylor Spence 3 Early National America, 1789-1830: Laying the Foundation for Nineteenth-Century Agricultural Growth 37 James L. Huston 4 Agricultural Power and Production in Antebellum America 47 Kelly Houston Jones 5 Making the Rural Midwest: Commodities and Communities 60 J.L. Anderson 6 The Great Plains 75 Thomas D. Isern 7 Post-Civil War Southern Agriculture 89 Jeannie Whayne 8 Three Eras of California Agriculture: Wheat, Specialty Crops, Cotton 102 David Vaught 9 American Indian Agriculture 115 David H. DeJong 10 Cities and Agriculture in America 129 Andrew C. Baker Part II Science, Technology, and Environment 145 11 The Historians' Corner: American Agricultural Science 147 Alan I Marcus 12 Agricultural Technology 161 Paul Nienkamp 13 Plant Sciences: A Brief History 175 Karen-Beth G. Scholthof 14 A Counterculture Agriculture: Organic Farming in a Commercial Food Age 188 David D. Vail 15 Agricultural History's Agroecological Turn 200 Mark D. Hersey and Albert G. Way Part III Ethnicity and Gender 213 16 African Americans in Twentieth-Century Agriculture 215 Cherisse Jones-Branch 17 Gender and Agriculture 229 Sara Egge 18 Migrant Labor 244 Nancy Gabin Part IV Politics and Policy 255 19 Evolving Boundaries: "The People's Department" across Three Centuries 257 Anne Effland 20 Agrarian Reform: The Grange, the Farmers' Alliance, and Populism 272 Connie L. Lester 21 Agricultural Organization in the Twentieth Century: Progressives, Radicals, and Social Activists 286 Nancy K. Berlage 22 The Development of American Agricultural Policy 300 Jonathan Coppess 23 Irrigation, Reclamation, and Water Rights 314 Brian Q. Cannon 24 Consumers, Producers, and the Shifting Logic of Food Safety 327 Kendra Smith-Howard 25 Meatpacking 341 Wilson J. Warren 26 Agribusiness 354 Peter A. Coclanis Part V Culture 371 27 Rural Life 373 Megan Birk 28 Agriculture and Art 389 Travis Nygard 29 Agriculture in US Literature 409 Kathryn C. Dolan 30 The Blues, Country Music, and American Agriculture 421 Joseph M. Thompson 31 Agriculture and Film 436 Debra A. Reid Bibliography 453 Sara E. Morris Index 551