At this time of the year, in the Great Plains areas of North America, one marvels at the intense scale of harvesting on commercial farming operations. Gigantic machinery devours countless acres of cereal and oilseeds. Whilst on a road trip into Colorado, Utah and Idaho, millions of tons of forages were being baled and corn was being silaged – the massive scale of agriculture in the USA is always amazing to see. Most corn being harvested was destined for super-sized dairy farms, particularly in southern Idaho.
What is curious is the number of acres devoted to growing hay in all three states. Endless stacks of giant one-ton bales seem to be everywhere – who buys all that hay? Most of the hayland is irrigated, so yields must be considerable. Potato harvesting in Idaho was underway, and like other crops, mechanization was massive. It’s all a huge change from a hundred years ago when harvesting of almost any kind involved vast amounts of hard labour and horsepower. Albeit rudimentary tractors were taking part even back then. But that was not the beginning of commercial agriculture in the western plains, that belongs to another group of people, that being indigenous peoples of the US southwest area.
Southern Utah/Colorado and northern Arizona/New Mexico saw ancestral Puebloan Indigenous cultures flourish under the commercial agriculture of the day. That is the growing of corn, squash, and beans. Corn, in particular, was farmed on a large scale as the population expanded considerably, and a crop that could be successfully farmed was critical. It was estimated that the population in the Mesa Verde area may have been as high as 20,000 around the 11th century. Simple hunting/gathering for food would not be enough to feed such a population. Corn seeds and farming knowledge would have worked its way north from central Mexico, where it had been established for many centuries.
The Mesa Verde area would have been the northernmost boundary of corn growing as it needed at least 150 frost-free days. Interestingly, the mesas also had deep enough soil and rainfall necessary for growing corn. Terrace farming was also part of their agricultural development. Some estimates were that Mesa Verde Puebloan farming involved 2,000 acres all by hand. That would be a commercial endeavour by any standard, as much corn was stored for winter use or trade. Upon visiting the Mesa Verde National Park, one notes the ancient farmed area is now overgrown by brush, pinyon scrub trees and invasive weeds.
What ancient farming did around the world was give people time to engage in other pursuits or improving life’s necessities like building more permanent homes. The Mesa Verde area has numerous cliff dwellings constructed from sandstone rocks and bricks. The locations are in cliff alcoves that are extremely difficult to access and are engineering triumphs. The squareness and level nature of the buildings would indicate that these people possessed surveying and measuring skills. The human labour that was expended in the construction of their cliff villages would be immeasurable. Add to that all the time needed to plant, tend, and harvest thousands of acres of corn, and it would indeed take thousands of people to carry out all the activities.
However, the glory days of the ancestral Puebloan culture lasted only a few hundred years and disappeared by the 1500s, just before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Volumes of archaeological research exist that try to decipher why this seemingly advanced culture vanished so quickly. Well, the people didn’t disappear. They just moved away more to the south and today make up the Ute, Navaho, Hopi and other indigenous nations.
What is becoming more apparent is that climate change and agronomic challenges were probably the main reasons the Mesa Verde and other nearby cliff-dwelling villages were abandoned. Some research indicated there was a 25-year drought that decimated corn growing. Another suspicion is that the soils may have become thoroughly depleted after generations of corn growing. Farming further north was not possible because of a more hostile geography and climate.
All of those reasons may be reflective of what has been happening to agriculture across the western plains over the more recent past few decades. Unlike the ancient Puebloan cultures, modern agriculture has expanded and dealt with climate challenges with great advancements in plant science and agronomics. But for how long can technology and science continue to save agriculture? History does repeat itself – just some food for thought.
Will Verboven is an ag opinion writer.
