Website
Other

Camp Silos: Introduction to Farming Today and Tomorrow

For Students 3rd - 5th
Student-friendly site explaining the history of farming. The section on farming today and tomorrow gives viewers the opportunity to see pigs being born. Requires QuickTime plug-in.
Article
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Ranching

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the history of ranching in the state of Texas, and how this practice shaped the state's history.
Handout
University of Michigan

Univerisity of Michigan: A Taste of the Ancient World: Farming at Karanis

For Students 9th - 10th
See pictures of tools used in grain production in ancient Egypt. The artifacts are similar to tools used today.
Website
Archives of Ontario

The Archives of Ontario Celebrates Our Agricultural Past

For Students 9th - 10th
The province of Ontario has a rich agricultural heritage. This virtual exhibit celebrates farming in the province. Explore everything from settling the land and the building of communities around farming. Get a snapshot of farming life...
Article
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Almanac: Ranching in a Changing Land

For Students 9th - 10th
Read how the traditional Texas professions of ranching and farming have changed throughout the history of Texas.
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Wessels Living History Farm

For Students 9th - 10th
The Wessels Living History Farm of York County, Nebraska, offers a look at what it was like to live on a Great Plains farm in the 1920s. The farm's attractive and well organized website includes interviews with people who remember life...
Website
Agriculture in the Classroom

U.s. Department of Agriculture: Agriculture in the Classroom

For Students 9th - 10th
Information about agriculture and agricultural practice in America. You can explore specific states or issues that are national in scope. The "Growing a Nation" page helps you understand the role of the American farm in westward expansion.
Handout
Other

Selected Essays on Barbed Wire: Brief History of Barbed Wire

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides information on the development and use of barbed wire. Includes biographies on Joseph F. Glidden, Jacob Haish, and Isaac L. Ellwood, who were instrumental in its invention and marketing. For more information on barbed wire,...
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Crop Rotation

For Students 9th - 10th
A history of crop rotation in the United States. Once an incentive from the New Deal, farmers were paid to plant certain crops or let the soil lie fallow.
Website
Other

Kansas Barbed Wire Museum: Brief History of Barbed Wire

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out the history of barbed wire and why it was such an advancement for farms on the prairie.
Website
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Farming in the 1930s: Crash!

For Students 9th - 10th
A multi-page site that focuses on the effects of the Great Depression primarily in rural America in the early days before the election of Franklin Roosevelt. Find videos interviews with those who lived through the trying times.
Website
Northern Arizona University

Land Use History of North America: Prehistoric Farming on the Colorado Plateau

For Students 9th - 10th
This is an overview of the Anasazi agricultural developments -- despite unfavorable environmental conditions -- which allowed for the formation of settlements and food sharing.
Handout
Wessels Living History Farm

Living History Farm: Farming in the 1940s: The Gi Bill

For Students 9th - 10th
Find a summary of the benefits offered to veterans of World War II through the GI Bill. See how college attendance was affected by the return of veterans and their enrollment in post-secondary education.
Primary
Curated OER

National Park Service: National Historic Landmark Nomination: Bonanza Farm [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
On this site you will find the application to the National Park Service to include the Bagg Bonanza Farm as a National Landmark. The first part describes what is found on the land now, but if you'll scroll through the history of...
Primary
Purdue University

Purdue University: A Basic Overview of Aquaculture [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A vocational discussion of aquaculture that includes a history of the field, its environmental impact, use of water, and the like. (Published in 1900.)
Website
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Agriculture: Ranching in a Changing Land

For Students 4th - 8th
Looks at the history of agriculture in Texas, from the cattle drives of the past to the mechanization of food production today. One section discusses the major crops that are produced today, and the production and economic figures for each.
Handout
TexasHistory.com

Texas history.com: Working Texas

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides an overview of the history of the major industries of Texas, including cotton farming, the lumber industry, cattle ranching, and the oil industry.
Handout
White Pine Pictures

White Pine Pictures: Rene Richard: Painter of the North

For Students 9th - 10th
Rene Richard was a native of Switzerland who worked as a trapper and hunter to avoid the hardships of farming life that his family endured. He came to appreciate Alberta's north and went to France to train as an artist. When he returned,...
Website
PBS

Pbs Teachers: The Real Dirt on Farmer John: Family Farms in America

For Students 9th - 10th
Trace the evolution in American agriculture with this interactive timeline. Learn how the history of one small Illinois farm reflects the larger changes, decade by decade.
Website
Other

Architect of the Capitol: Julius Sterling Morton

For Students 9th - 10th
This site has a biography of Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902 CE), the famous Nebraskan and successful farmer. He taught people about modern techniques of farming and forestry and went on to be the founder of Arbor Day.
Website
Other

University of Nevada, Reno: Sheepherders of Northern Nevada

For Students 9th - 10th
A rich trove of resources that describe the history and culture of sheep ranching in Nevada and the Basques who came to the American West to "trail their flocks" in Nevada's northern Peavine regions.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Delivering the Goods: Watsonville. California 1895

For Students 9th - 10th
Railroads changed agriculture. As railways linked farms to a wider commercial world, city dwellers could buy fruits and vegetables year-round. Farms became commercialized, often specializing in single crops and tied to the ups and downs...
Article
University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania: Life in One of India's First Urban Societies

For Students 9th - 10th
This article in The Pennsylvania Gazette is about an archaeological excavation at Rojdi, India, believed to be a site of the Harappan civilization. Findings at the Rojdi dig, which include houses, courtyards, food-storage areas, and...
eBook
Other

Usa: Chapter 8: American Agriculture: Its Changing Significance

For Students 9th - 10th
Chapter 8 provides an overview of the history of farming in America and how the role of agriculture has changed and continues to change.