Lessons from the Archives: Understanding Historical Agricultural Change in the Southern Great Plains

Georgina Belem Carrasco Galvan (), Jacqueline M. Vadjunec and Todd D. Fagin
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Georgina Belem Carrasco Galvan: Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
Jacqueline M. Vadjunec: Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
Todd D. Fagin: Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-31

Abstract: In the US, agriculture rapidly expanded beginning in the 1850s, influenced by homesteader policies and new technologies. With increased production also came widespread land-use/land-cover change. We analyze historical agricultural policies and associated land and water use trajectories with a focus on the Southern Great Plains (SGPs). Rapid changes in agriculture and reoccurring drought led to the infamous Dust Bowl, triggering new agricultural and land management policies, with lasting impacts on the landscape. To understand historical agricultural change, we use mixed methods, including archival literature and historical agricultural census data (1910 to 2017) from three counties in a tri-state (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado) area of the SGPs. Our archival policy and agricultural census analysis illustrates 110 years of agricultural change, showing that agricultural policies and technological advances play an integral role in the development of agroecological systems, especially the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP). Further, while communities began with distinct agricultural practices, agricultural policy development resulted in increasing uniformity in crop and livestock practices. The results suggest that there are sustainability lessons to be learned by looking to the land and water trajectories and accompanying unintended consequences of the past.

Keywords: Southern Great Plains (SGPs); historical agriculture; agricultural policy; land-use/land-cover change (LULCC); water use and irrigation; Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP); Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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