Science and the Agroindustrial Revolution
Ag. Studies 1000 – Group 6: Pages 141-158
Although lacking leadership, scientists finally began to take a role in the
Agriculture industry by the early 19th century. Chemists began to evaluate formulas of
fertilizers already used by farmers. They would identify major components and
disregarded by-products, and develop syntheses to manufacture fertilizers. Another study
put into motion at this time was the selection and production of hybrid plants. These
were only theories, however, and it is not until later that we see a leading role for
scientists.
Huge developments occurred during this time and up until 1910:

Chemical fertilizers are recognized.

Synthesis of chemical nitrogen fertilizers – Established individually.

Japanese begin breeding specific traits for high-yielding varieties.

Insecticides and fungicides are on the market.
Experiment Stations
By 1850, Experiment stations were beginning to become established. The
establishment of these stations caused a large leap forward in the Agriculture Industry.
These stations employed professional scientists (commonly agriculture chemists). These
scientists built theories and performed long-term experiments. For example, one soil
exhaustion trial has lasted for more than a century.
Some of the first experiment stations to be implemented:

1st station – Rothamsted, England – J.B. Lawes – early 1800s

1st state sponsored station – Mockern, Saxony – 1852

1st U.S. station – Connecticut – 1876
Some of the first movements towards agriculture colleges:
o 1862 – Federal government establishes land grant to help states
establish agriculture colleges.
o 1887 – Hatch Act – Network of experiment stations and agriculture
colleges.
o 1890 – Separate system of agriculture colleges and stations set up for
blacks in the southern states.
*The government only funded 0.5% to blacks of what they funded to whites for
agriculture colleges and stations.
Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science
The first publication to recognize agricultural chemistry was “Organic Chemistry
in Its Applications to Agriculture and Physiology” in 1840. This publication also triggers
the concept of soil analysis.
The discovery of macronutrients and the study of fertilizers were the most
significant contributions of the scientists of the 19th century. During the 19th century,
very little time was spent on formulating chemical fertilizers. However, one study done
was the process of synthesizing superphosphate - treating bones with sulphuric acid. This
was developed by Lawes and Gilbert, and was altered by other chemists by using rock
instead of bone.
The quality of compound mixtures varied greatly. The chemists’ judgement of
soil quality was very inaccurate, and they were unable to match soil, crop and specific
nutrient. Finally at the turn of the 20th century, scientists identified unnoticed fertilizers
such as Chilean nitrate and ammonium sulphate.
Some other important implementations at the turn of the 20th century:

Industrial nitrogen fixation (1903)

Haber ammonia synthesis (During WW1)
Micronutrients recognized during the 20th century:

Iron (1910)

Boron, manganese, & zinc (1925)

Copper (1931)

Molybdenum (1942)
Some of the major micronutrient deficiencies were known in places such as
organic soils in Western Australia (boron, copper), and in alkaline soils (iron, zinc,
manganese). From the early 1900s through to the 1960s, micronutrient research
continued due to the vast amount of micronutrient deficiencies caused by the extreme use
of macronutrients.
Some important advances in soil science:
 J.T. Way investigates the capacity of soils to retain ions – England
(1850).
 S.W. Johnson promotes soil physics – United States (1870).
 Soil microbiology well established (1900).
By the 1800s, soil science was well recognized. Some of the first comprehensive
systems were credited to several Russian scientists.
Plant Protection
Initial plant protection started when farmers started farming. They would pull out
unwanted plants (weeds), allowing the desired plant to grow. As time went on they found
that many of the plants were becoming diseased. One of the first scientific studies done
by a scientist in England had to deal with powdery mildew on peaches. This disease was
quickly spreading through Europe. Research showed that sulfur would control the
disease. The next disease was downy mildew. The control for this was found by accident.
A Bordeaux mixture used to discourage theft turned out to control the disease. It was
made up of lime and copper sulfate. Sulfer and copper were used in many fungicides into
the future and had good control. In the 20th century science changed from just hit and
miss research to actually developing theories before making selections. This leads to
scientists starting to select phenotypes that are resistant and breeding plants with those
characteristics. They also discover that crop rotation helps to prevent disease.
Insecticides were also used by pre-industrial cultivators. Many of them were plant
extracts like sabadilla, nicotine and pyrethrin. Arsenic compounds were also used to kill
insects. Other methods were also introduced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Main control of insects was still plant extracts. In the 1900s scientists started to discover
that immunities to the control substances were being developed by insects and other
pests.
Herbicides came around in the 1900s which came as a way to reduce labor.
Instead of having people pull the weeds out of every field they could just simply spray
the field. This would often increase yields and reduce costs. Hand control is equally
effective or better if done thoroughly.
Overall, scientists have found that the best way to control disease is to breed for
resistance. Even some plants can be breed to reduce the insects that are attracted to them.
Many of the things we plant today breed to better improve the production and protection
of the plant.
Breeding Animals and Sexually Reproduced Plants
- Plant and animal breeding becomes a systematized practice over the 18th, 19th and 20th
centuries.
- Farmers and commercial seedsmen have the necessary capital and knowledge to
develop new breeding methods.
- New breeding methods are simply refinements of old ones as a result of increasing
scientific understanding.
- Scientific methods used today are based on the principles that were developed during
this time.
- T.A. Knight developed an understanding of heredity in the early 1820s.
- credited with the first deliberate hyridization of wheat in Europe.
- developed more useful field varieties using systematic methods rather than chance.
Mass Selection- Seeds with desirable characteristics (phenotypes) are selected and pooled
to be planted the following season.
- Results in something called land races, which are lines of a species with
similar genetic make-up.
- Land races are eventually eliminated through cross-pollination because the
lines become less pure.
- By the end of the 18th century commercial grain buyers are demanding
greater uniformity of type.
- Inbreeding and outbreeding eventually replaces mass selection.
-The principle of mass selection was also employed in the breeding of domestic
animals.
- Animals with the desired traits would be bred to carry on that trait.
Inbreeding- The principles of in and outbreeding replaced mass selection as a means of
acquiring desirable characteristics in a population.
- Desirable traits can be made uniform through inbreeding.
- Outbreeding affors hybrid vigour and avoids the deleterious effects of
inbreeding. (eg. declining fertility)
- Degradation is not an inevitable consequence of inbreeding.
- Generally, self-pollinated plants tolerate inbreeding the best since deleterious
genes have already been selected out.
- Today, accurate record-keeping and knowledge of genetics permit better
control of the detrimental effects of inbreeding.
-The flower industry is where the improvements on mass selection first show up.
- High prices paid for more desirable flowers encouraged the selection and inbreeding of
those flowers to create more of them.
- These same concepts were used for crops.
- By the end of the 18th century British farmers are beginning to select cereal lines and
naming and promoting these selections.
- Louis de Vilmorin is credited with the first systematic progeny selection.
- Progeny of possibly superior parent plants are grown and observed.
- If these plants produced are promising the lines are continued to produce a new
variety.
- applied his theories to sugar beets and produced a variety that produced nearly 3
times more sugar than the original varieties.
- By the end of the 19th century breeding programs have become scientific method.
- Fairs and shows that feature new varieties begin to appear.
- The work is still largely being done by farmers and amateurs, but many of them have a
sound knowledge of contemporary science.
- 20th century plant breeding becomes a large and diverse business.
- Mendelian genetics are rediscovered and the ideas employed.
- Plant explorers carefully select specific traits and breed the plants that have these
traits.
- Breeders of the 1920's focus more on cross-breeding to obtain hybrid vigour and to
transfer or combine certain traits.
- The development of highly desirable varieties is dangerous because these attractive new
varieties often replace several genetically diverse land races.
-genetic diversity among land races can be greatly reduced as a result.
Genetic Engineering
- The greatest yield increases of late have come from the transfer of genes between
species that cannot be crossed to produce viable offspring.
- Involves recombinant DNA techniques.
-molecules that carry the desired genetic code are transferred from the cell nuclei of
one organism to the cell nuclei of another.
- Another method is the fusion of plant cells from 2 separate species.
- Genetically modified foods have been a point of controversy over recent years.
- Many people are sceptical about the practices being used and are unsure of the safety of
these "frankenfoods".
- Pressure has been put on the government to label foods that are genetically modified.
- One common example of a genetically modified crop is Round-Up Ready Canola.
Breeding Asexually Reproduced Crop Plants
Vegetatively propagated plants can be advantageous to a breeder because they posses
many different possibilities. For one, this type of propagation is a rapid method of
propagation. Also it can be used to produce seeds from plants that normally don’t
produce seeds.
Differences in clones and Hybrids
These clones produced from asexually reproduced plants should not be confused with
the inbred line of sexually reproduced plants. Inbred lines are mostly homozygous pairs,
clones genes are in heterozygous pairs. When a colonial variety produces seed through
self-fertilization, the seedling varies from type. This means that the seed isn’t a true clone
even if the one plant producing the seeds is both the male and female parents.
Diversification by Mutation and Propagation of Seeds
To diversify the plants that normally asexually reproduce you can use propagation by
seed of crops. This type of variation might not be intentional by the grower but even
though there are way more bad seeds then good, this is significant in the frontiers of
European settlement, because seeds are more easily carried then plants or their cuttings.
This is the basis of the North American apple industry because clones were selected from
these types of seedlings.
Mutations are another way to add variation, most phenotypic changes are a result of an
accumulation of mutations.
Who Stumbled Upon Hybrid Crosses
Before there was scientific breeding plant hobbyist whom collected plants from all
over the world were creating useful hybrids unintentionally. An example of this would be
the our modern strawberries who are descendents of a accidental cross between the North
American Fragaria virginiana and the South American F. Chiloensis. These processes of
hybridization, propagation of the seedling, and vegetative propagation to establish a clone
is gradually systematized. Ex. The grape vines of Europe where cross bred with North
American breeds to save European vineyards from vine pests and diseases. Now many of
these hybrids have become commercially important all over the world.
The Process of Transferring Traits
To transfer traits from plants to plants is fairly easy when the plants reproduce
asexually and already produce seeds. Mass seed production is unnecessary because one
seed is only needed to regenerate a clone. The female plant is protected from undesirable
pollen, and if there are may parts in the flower they are removed. Those flowers that
exclude outside pollen are opened. Many crops that do not produce seeds normally are
today by breeders inducing seed production into many of their crops.
Benefits of Vegetative Propagation
The faster the production of a progeny the more quickly they can be available in
quantity for evaluation. This is because thousands of offspring can be attained from one
seedling is less than a year by using mist propagation
(short cuttings are placed on a soil like medium, with mist until they form roots, the plant
stays hydrated so green parts from the plant can be used). With tissue culture( the
growing stem tip is kept on a sterile medium full of carbohydrates and other nutrients that
promote growth or rooting, resulting in rapid production of small plants) this time can be
cut to two or three months compared to old method which typically took years.
Knew Approaches Being Used
Another approach that appears to be promising is switching from vegetative
propagation to propagation by seed. If a plant doesn’t have viable seeds it must be
induced to do so, which means inbreeding must be used to produce a line with little
variation. This technique to date is being applied to the potato, some varieties produce
viable seed, hybridization and selection are being performed to produce true potato seed.
Breeding and Plant Protection
Two important steps in breeding and plant protection are:
1) Development of adequate methods of evaluation
2) The elucidation of inheritance.
Dominant and recessive genes for certain resistances are being identified, but it
takes years to be able to confront the complexities posed by variation. Evaluation of
resistance improves through experimental control of infection or infestation.
·Some pests and diseases are mobile and attack many varieties of crops, but others are
less mobile and do damage where high planting density combines with low genetic
diversity. An example of this is
Helminthosporium maydis. In the 1970’s, it damaged plants carrying a gene for male
sterility that grows hybrid seed without detasseling plants.
·New problems arise constantly, in a variety of crops, making it important to retain
genetic diversity. The key is to identify resistant varieties, breed the traits into proper
seed lines, and distribute the new planting material in time.
Mechanization
·Important machines that plow, cultivate, and cut, first appeared behind horses. This was
important since they replaced human labour with the help of animals.
· Mehanized harvesting helped farmers greatly, since animals or tractors absorbed much
of the labour. Here’s a basic timeline of important agricultural inventions:
-Iron plows were in use by the 1770’s in England, which replaced wooden
plows.
-Stationary threshing machines were introduced in 1800.
-In 1847, C. McCormick’s prototype of the commercial reaper was produced by the
United States.
-The first steam plows appeared in the U.S and Great Britain in the
1850’s, but see limited use mainly because they were simply unpractical.
They were pulled by cables from stationary engines.
-J.F.Appleby’s grain binder was introduced in 1879, which tied grain sheaves. Combines
and mechanical hay mowers were introduced shortly after this.
-Tractor production in the U.S is nearly 6000 by 1890.
- In 1892, the first gasoline tractor is build. Several commercial designs were on the
market in the U.S. and Great Britain by 1910.
-In the 1920’s, sugar beets were lifted mechanically in the U.S. Some time before this,
potatoes were lifted mechanically in Europe.
-The Rust Brothers introduced the cotton picker in 1927.
-531 000 tractors are in use in the Soviet Union by 1940, even though agriculture was not
a top priority for them at the time.
Social Impact of Pre- WWII Changes
·Most of the Pre-War innovations intended to save labour, but reductions in the work
force did not really go down much in most of the countries around the world. A likely
explanation is the demand that occurred at the time. For example, tractors were very
common by 1930, but because of the depression total farm labour hours decreased only
slightly from the 1920’s.
·During the depression, larger per-capita demand for meat, dairy, and other landconsuming products resulted in expansion of the markets.
·Increased labour trends resulted in expansion of farm areas in North America and
Australia. In France and Germany, the farm work force increases marginally, but in the
United Kingdom, it declined 38% from 1861 to 1911. In places like Prussia, land reforms
such as breaking up large holdings, resulted in decreased concentration.