Envisioning Agriculture as an Industry

Item #33279: "First Annual Catalogue of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Raleigh, N.C. "

At the close of the Civil War, agriculture in the South was in an abysmal state. The majority of the population was rural, poor, and involved in agriculture—either as tenant farmers, sharecroppers, or landowners. Most rural families continued to practice subsistence farming by producing only enough food and fiber for their own families, and selling any excess products. At the turn of the twentieth century, the first class of men educated at agricultural colleges began to apply their new skills in the field with two goals: increase farm productivity, and improve the lives of farmers and rural people. While well-intended, the advancement of agricultural industrialization in the state revealed that these two goals were often at odds with each other.

Throughout the South, agricultural colleges were centers of agricultural research, and were vital to the success of the industrialization of agriculture.[1] North Carolina State University in Raleigh, then called the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, became the center for agricultural research. The First Annual Catalogue for NC State, published in 1890, described its vision of the importance of an agricultural college in the state, saying, “the Legislature has acted wisely in its conclusion to aid the interests of so large a class of its citizens by the creation of an agricultural and mechanical college, in which the very best methods can be studied and worked out practically as well as theoretically.”[2] From its creation, NC State understood the role of its school in the empowerment and improvement of agriculture and rural lives. 

Item #33280: "David S. Weaver."

David S. Weaver was a major agricultural leader at NC State in the first half of the twentieth century, and was also a major advocate of efficient agriculture. He began teaching at NC State in 1923 while studying for his Master’s degree, and held several positions, including the first head of the Department of Agricultural Engineering and Director of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, before his retirement in 1964. Weaver thought that more efficient production would lead to agricultural prosperity. In an article from the early 1930s, he described the new “agricultural outlook” based on academic research, saying “Unerringly [this outlook] shows the needs for new methods and new short-cuts that will save labor, time and money.”[3]  Agricultural leaders like Weaver wanted to improve agriculture and rural life by increasing farm income, and believed that the root of the problem was inefficient agricultural practices.[4] They began to emphasize increasing production profits and decreasing production costs, and believed this would be accomplished with scientific research and mechanization.[5]

The original goal of agricultural research at NC State was the improvement of the life of small farmers through more efficient agriculture. Scientific research and mechanization were the main targets of research at the university, but the results of scientific research were quicker and easier to spread than mechanization. Mechanization did not become widespread until after World War II. Since then, agriculture has become increasingly more efficient, but agricultural industrialization has affected the farmer in unintended, and sometimes undesirable, ways. As agriculture became more efficient, the number of people involved in agriculture went down, and many small farmers were left behind in the process.