Euro-American’s in California
In essence, California was known as the best second grain-producing state. California, in the early centuries, was practising the growing of wheat. Due to inferior agricultural methods, California abandoned the growing of wheat because yields kept on reducing, resulting in a low profit. As a result, Euro-Americans in California shifted from grain-growing operations to intensive small scale growing of horticultural crops such as grapes, vegetables, deciduous fruits, cotton, and citrus. Arguably, agriculture was the main economic activity in California, United States.
Euro-Americans in California involved in transitional farming as the main economic activity to satisfy the growing population. California accounted as the most productive state in the United States to embark on agriculture (Olmstead and Rhode p.1). Extensive lands were used for farming diversity of crops such as grains and horticultural crops. Euro-Americans in California employed various methods to make agriculture successful by allocating available resources, and agricultural institutions for agriculture research. Besides, Euro-Americans in California made use of fertile land and other methods of farming to increase productivity. For instance, in growing wheat, farmers in California used crop rotation, deep ploughing, fertilizer, and mining of soil nutrients resulted in the promotion of the growth of the weeds. As a result, the yields of wheat kept on depreciating, which forced Euro-Americans farmers to transform from grain farming to horticultural farming and livestock farming.
Many organizations emerged to play a significant role in making agriculture successful in California. The organization board of Giannini Foundation was formed for the boosting agricultural economics (Olmstead and Rhode p.1). The objective of the Giannini Foundation was for promoting and supporting research work about agriculture. Also, Giannini foundation was established to extend agricultural economic activities and advancement of rural areas relevant to California. Besides, the Giannini organization was meant to encourage resource and farming economists and to support research findings dissemination to other research experts and the community.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was another body farm involved in providing services to the citrus processing industry. Also, USDA facilitated the importation of navel orange from Brazil and Bahia (Olmstead and Rhode pp. 6). Another group that played a significant role in agriculture in California was the college of agriculture at the University of California. The college involved in intensifying its investigation on the field of horticultural farming and problems of cultivation and harvesting of grapes.
Works Cited
Olmstead, Alan L., and Paul W. Rhode. “A History of California Agriculture.” Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics University of California, December 2017, https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/giannini_public/19/41/194166a6-cfde-4013-ae55-3e8df86d44d0/a_history_of_california_agriculture.pdf. Accessed June 15, 2020.
(Olmstead and Rhode pp 6)