Mechanization of Agriculture

Research in agricultural mechanization increased sharply in the 1950s and 60s. Agricultural mechanization was applied to both crop production and livestock production, and often supplemented scientific research from earlier years. These research efforts helped make North Carolina farmers become major producers of many agricultural products.  North Carolina is the top producer of pork, turkey, tobacco, and sweet potatoes. The state also produces a significant amount of peanuts, cucumbers, soybeans and cotton. In more recent years, North Carolina farmers have also developed profitable aquaculture, berry, and Christmas tree markets. North Carolina State University played an integral role in the industrialization of all of these agricultural commodities.

Tobacco has long been an important crop in North Carolina. Researchers at NC State were conducting research on tobacco from the foundation of the college. Scientific efforts began first, specifically for insect and disease control, until Robert Wilson began researching the mechanization of tobacco as early as 1947. The tobacco picker went through several phases of development, and was used widely by the late 1960s. As farmers adopted these harvesters, they eliminated the need for the labor force they had employed for decades. Furthermore, harvesters were only profitable for those who planted over 40 acres of tobacco.[1] When North Carolina researchers began to promote bulk curing in the late 1970s, even more farm laborers found themselves out of a job.[2] While researchers had ensured efficient production with “total tobacco mechanization,” industrialization left many farmers behind.

Item #33185. Electric Sweet Potato Bed.

In the late 1940s, NC State researchers began developing varieties of sweet potato that would increase yield, and conducted experiments on the most efficient cultural techniques for sweet potato farmers. This scientific research would last for several years, and multiple projects on sweet potato varieties still exist. NC State researchers focused on mechanized curing for sweet potatoes, with the development of the “electric sweet potato bed” in the 1950s.[3] 

In the 1960s and 1970s, NC State researchers developed mechanical sweet potato de-viners. The university helped to develop some harvesters that de-vined the sweet potato and turned it above ground. However, the skin of sweet potatoes can be easily damaged, and made this method cost ineffective. NC State also helped develop a harvester that de-vines and up-roots the sweet potato, and carries the roots to workers to sort via a conveyor belt. Although larger farms use one of these mechanical harvesters, most sweet potato farms in North Carolina still require a considerable amount of hand labor, either as the main source of harvesting, or to glean the field behind a mechanical harvester.[4]

Research on cucumber production also began in the 1940s, particularly on insect and disease control, as well as cultural techniques. Mount Olive Pickle Co., founded in North Carolina in 1926, was particularly interested in the efficient production of pickling cucumbers in North Carolina, and collaborated with NC State to conduct research on several projects, including fermentation techniques, beginning in the 1940s. Research on cucumber mechanization was conducted in the 1960s and 70s, but again, mechanical harvesting was not always efficient. Many cucumbers were damaged in the process, and small cucumbers, which are great for making pickles with, were often passed over. The development of the front-facing harvester in the 1980s sought to remedy this problem, but was not always as efficient as hand-harvesting.[5]

Despite efforts to mechanize cucumber production, the influx of migrant workers in the 1990s led to the continued use of hand labor for cucumber harvesting. In the late 1990s, controversy over the manipulation of these predominantly Hispanic farm laborers led to a lawsuit and a consumer boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle Co. led by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee. This dispute was settled in 2004 by allowing these farm workers to unionize in North Carolina.[6] Since this settlement, research in cucumber mechanization has gained momentum. This is an example of one of the main obstacles to agricultural mechanization in North Carolina: it is deterred by the availability of cheap labor.[7] The inability of farm workers in North Carolina to unionize has only contributed to the practical difficulties of agricultural mechanization. Therefore, farm laborers jobs are replaced by mechanization in the interests of efficiency and productivity, rather than in the interests of small farmers and farm laborers.