Every farm a factory : the industrial ideal in American agriculture / / Deborah Fitzgerald

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910820626203321
• Autore: Fitzgerald Deborah Kay
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New Haven : , : Yale University Press, , [2003]; ©2003
• ISBN: 1-281-73158-7; 9786611731588; 0-300-13341-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (255 pages)
• Collana: Yale agrarian studies series
• Disciplina: 338.1/0973
• Soggetti: Agriculture - Economic aspects - United States - History - 20th century; Family farms - United States - History - 20th century; Agricultural credit - United States - History - 20th century; Farms, Size of - Economic aspects - United States - History - 20th century; Farm mechanization - Economic aspects - United States - History - 20th century; Agriculture - Capital investments - United States - History - 20th century; Farm mortgages - United States - History - 20th century; Business cycles - United States - History - 20th century; Farm foreclosures - United States - History - 20th century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-234).
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. The Industrial Ideal in American Agriculture -- 2. By the Numbers: Economics and Management in Agriculture -- 3. Agricultural Engineers and Industrialization -- 4. Farms as Factories: The Emergence of Large-Scale Farming -- 5. The Campbell Farming Corporation -- 6. Collectivization and Industrialization: Learning from the Soviets -- Conclusion: Changing the Landscape -- Appendix -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: During the early decades of the twentieth century, agricultural practice in America was transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial activity. In this book Deborah Fitzgerald argues that farms became modernized in the 1920's because they adopted not only new machinery but also the financial, cultural, and ideological apparatus of industrialism. Fitzgerald examines how bankers and emerging professionals in engineering and economics pushed for systematic, businesslike farming. She discusses how factory practices served as a template for the creation across the country of industrial or corporate farms. She looks at how farming was affected by this revolution and concludes by following several agricultural enthusiasts to the Soviet Union, where the lessons of industrial farming were studied.