[ 6.4 ] From Family Farms to Commercial Farming

[ 6.4 ] From Family Farms to Commercial Farming
• Analyze the factors that encouraged people to move to Texas during the 19th century.
• Describe the process of tenant farming and the effect it had on the economy.
• Analyze how limited water resources affected the development of Texas during the
1800s.
• Analyze the effects of technology and national markets on agriculture.
• Analyze the political, social, and economic impacts of the agricultural industry.

[ 6.4 ] From Family Farms to Commercial Farming
• tenant farmers
• supply and demand
• depressions
• cotton gin
• Cottonseed oil
• George Wilkins Kendall
• William W. Haupt

Populations and Agriculture Increase
Life for the average Texas farm family was not much different in 1870 than it had been before the Civil War. The plantation system and slavery were gone, of course. Thousands of small farms remained in eastern and central Texas. They still raised cotton and corn, as well as a few cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens. Corn provided food for people and livestock. Farmers sold the cotton for cash, which was often in short supply. Farmers needed cash not only for daily use, but to pay their taxes as well.

Populations and Agriculture Increase
• Immigrants Come to Texas
• Most Immigrants Farm

Populations and Agriculture Increase
This 1913 photograph shows a farm family who lived near Corsicana in East Texas. Interpret What do the details in this photograph show about farm life in Texas during this time?

Populations and Agriculture Increase
Analyze Data From which part of the world did most of Texas’s immigrants come?

Significant Changes to Farming Practices
Texas plantations had long been involved in growing crops for cash. Until the Civil War, however, most rural Texans practiced subsistence agriculture. Once the railroads came, farmers could use this technology to move their crops to national and even international markets. This gave even small farmers a good reason to grow as many cash crops—crops grown for the purpose of selling—as possible.

Significant Changes to Farming Practices
• Immigrants Contribute to the Agricultural Economy
• Tenant Farmers
• Tenant Farming—A Cycle of Debt
• Overproduction and Cotton Prices

Significant Changes to Farming Practices
Many African Americans, like the farm workers in this 1907 photograph, worked in farm fields owned by others in return for a share of the crops that they raised.

Significant Changes to Farming Practices
Analyze Tables What was one way that tenant farmers and sharecroppers were similar? What was one way that they differed?

The Agricultural Industry in West Texas
West Texas and its growth shows how physical factors, such as weather and climate, helped shape Texas history. Geographic factors such as limited water resources affected economic and social development. West Texas also shows the key role of human factors, such as the development of irrigation and transportation systems, which changed landuse patterns in Texas.

The Agricultural Industry in West Texas
• Development of West Texas
• Hard Times for Farmers
• The Grange

The Agricultural Industry in West Texas
In dry areas such as West Texas, people must irrigate their land in order to grow crops well.

The Agricultural Industry in West Texas
Analyze Visuals Based on the infographic, how were changes in the cotton industry likely to affect
Texans in 1914?

Cotton and Corn Production Increases
Cotton had long been big business in the state. Both Spanish missionaries and early settlers from the southern United States had planted cotton. By 1852, Texas was a leading cotton grower. The removal of American Indians and the building of rail lines helped cotton farming grow in the late 1800s. Large numbers of people came to Texas after the
Civil War. Many of these new Texans planted cotton. They first poured onto the Blackland
Prairie of Central Texas. Then farmers followed ranchers west onto the Great Plains. Many of these newcomers planted cotton. Soon, Texas was the nation’s leading cotton producing state.

Cotton and Corn Production Increases
• The Cotton Gin
• Cottonseed Oil
• Corn

Cotton and Corn Production Increases
In the mid-1800s, Texas became one of the nation’s leading cotton producers.

Livestock Farming
Many people who think about Texas ranching in the late 1800s think only of cattle.
However, the raising of swine (pigs), sheep, and goats was important to the state economy as well. Unfortunately, cattle ranchers sometimes resented the intrusion of other livestock animals onto the plains.

Livestock Farming
• Hog Raising
• The Wool Industry Expands
• Goat Ranching

Livestock Farming
During the late 1800s, sheep ranches like this one in Val Verde County became increasingly important for Texas agriculture.

Quiz: Populations and Agriculture Increase
Why did so many settlers move to the Blackland Prairie?
A. The region had a great deal of fertile land.
B. Railroad companies mostly encouraged settlement in that region.
C. The region had most of the state’s largest cattle ranches.
D. It was the largest region in the state.

Quiz: Significant Changes to Farming Practices
Why did tenant farmers struggle to be profitable?
A. They could not sell enough cotton at high prices.
B. They were not paid for their work.
C. The costs of caring for their land were too high.
D. Americans had little interest in buying cotton.

Quiz: The Agricultural Industry in West Texas
What was the goal of the National Grange?
A. to end tenant farming
B. to win political offices for farmers
C. to give money to farmers during depressions
D. to educate farmers about better farming methods

Quiz: Cotton and Corn Production Increases
How did the cotton gin improve cotton production in Texas?
A. by shortening the time needed to grow cotton plants
B. by making the price of cotton rise
C. by creating a market for cottonseeds
D. by making cleaning cotton easier

Quiz: Livestock Farming
Which event marked a huge growth in the sheep industry in Texas?
A. The Civil War created demand for woolens.
B. Spanish explorers introduced new animals.
C. Immigrants arrived from Germany and France.
D. Towns such as Waco were founded near large sheep ranches.