We used to know how to stick it to big business....

[The Grand Nudger]

American agriculture is often pointed to as one of the modern wonders of the world (or a scourge, depending on who you might ask). We are a net exporter of food, with 2.2 million farms, covering 922 million acres of land, with an average farm around 418 acres (as of 07). These farms, however, are operated by what amounts to less than 1% of the total population. That's an impressive feat. A massive investment in infrastructure, equipment and research (most of which in the last 70 years alone) is responsible for this once unimaginable machine. But it wasn't always so.

It may come as a surprise to some of us that very few farmers came across the pond in the initial colonization of the New World. While those who did secure passage may have sought their fortunes any number of ways, agriculture was clearly not among them. Early settlers were almost completely dependent on regular shipments of food from Europe, despite finding themselves on an entire continent's worth of nearly virgin, extremely fertile soil. There does not seem to have been any foresight put into the plans of early settlers with regards to agriculture because they failed to bring much in the way of agricultural equipment, and the equipment that they did bring was rarely adequate (even for the purposes for which they were intended to be used). There were few experienced farmers among these early immigrants, as european economic theory and property law was not favorable to such an enterprise at this time, nor would it ever become so in this country under european rule. This isn't to say that vast fortunes would not be made from agriculture, but this would not become a possibility until the very eve of the American Revolution, and, in fact, it was this final realization of a distinctly american system of agriculture (as one factor, though by no means the only) that would allow the colonies to consider cutting their ties with Great Britain (as far as food production was concerned) in order to wage the Revolutionary War in the first place.

The main stumbling block in the early history of American agriculture was property law. Early property law was dominated by a grant or title from the crown, often conferring a monopoly to a company. It was decided that it would be easier to maintain control over a monopolistic company than individual property owners or an assortment of small private ventures (a concept which was itself in it's infancy). Early settlements were comprised mainly of indentured servants who would be offered free passage in return for a set period of service, after which they would be "allowed" to become tenant farmers on company land. Sometimes the option to purchase land from a company was extended to those who payed for their own passage (nevertheless they would remain under some degree of company oversight even if a purchase offer was extended and taken advantage of), an arrangement with implications which will become instrumental in the development of agriculture in the colonies as well as the history of the continent. To increase the number of settlers filtering into the company (and, company profits..or so they believed) many companies adopted a system of land disposal known as a "headright". This system began in Virginia and was later adopted all over the South and Middle Atlantic. This system could be gamed, and creative settlers soon capitalized upon it. Three headrights could be collected on one immigrant. The ships captain could collect on every servant and every member of his crew, the traders of indentured servants could also collect on those same people, and whoever purchased those servants could collect a final time. Ship's captains were often the largest landowners in the colonies for exactly this reason.

Many colonies formed by charter failed to produce appreciable profits, and so the initial proprietors were often eager to sell their charters to groups of settlers who banded together to save what little profit they did make from the trade of fur and lumber. The Pilgrims were one such group, who, in 1641 bought the Plymouth Company (est. 1621). Oftentimes these enterprises continued to turn little to no profit (even operating at a loss in many cases), but due to the religious nature of many early settlers this was not seen as a neccessarily bad thing. The Puritans, for example, secured a charter for the Company of Massachusetts Bay in 1629, choosing to operate the company not for profit, but for the glory of god. In each case the settlers used their land as a basis for a biblical commonwealth, rather than a legitimate business venture. As such, land was operated by tenants, for the church, and who got what and where was usually decided by a members standing in the church. The British Crown granted a charter to colonize the New world to only one other company in 1732. James Oglethorpe would develop an area of land that was agreed to revert to the crown in 1753. The Georgia colony was mainly a way for debtors to avoid being incarcerated in english prisons. The charter was formed with the crowns experiences in Virginia in mind. 50 acres of headright were granted to each colonist (copying the Virginia headright), and 500 acres of land was awarded to every colonist who paid their own passage and brought along a family of at least 6. In 1752 the company handed direct control of the colony back to the crown (glad to be rid of it). The crown continued the headright policy.

Excepting the Georgia colony the company system of ownership had completely ended by 1629. But why? Company ownership had failed, utterly and completely. The companies could not enforce their property rights, and the colonists flatly refused to let the system work as they had realized that they could force companies to give or sell land to individuals to cover a loss, or to cease operations in an area entirely due to a lack of acceptable return on investment (which they would then occupy as squatters). By the 18th century most land was acquired by purchasing it from proprietors. There were efforts to establish a system of feudal tenure, which failed. Most landowners found it to be more profitable to sell their land than to hold settlers in tenancy for exactly the same reasons that the companies had encountered.

[The Grand Nudger]

Other nations attempts to colonize the New World followed a similar pattern. The Dutch established an outpost on Manhatten Island around 1613, and by 1621 the West Indies Company was chartered (ostensibly giving the company the authority to colonize nearly everywhere in both America and Africa). The first permanent Dutch settlement was established in 1623. They operated on roughly the same principles as the British colonies to the north. Few settlers could be found on those terms. By 1629 the West Indies Company began issuing charters to Patroons (owners of companies). Interestingly, one type of charter gave a patroon title to 16 linear miles along one side of the Hudson as well as an indefinite distance into the interior. There was a catch. To recieve such a grant the patroon was required to bring 50 families to the New World within the span of 4 years. Interestingly, the dutch required patroons to purchase land from the natives, which was a requirement that no one else seemed to feel was necessary at this point (or indeed at any point). By 1650 these requirements had been gradually modified and land was available for individual settlers. The native populations put considerable pressure on the dutch settlements, and the english conquest of the territory has been considered a relief for farmers (who had been suffering from a lack of protection under Dutch governance). The english continued granting large estates, and by 1764 a mere 30 families held most of the province that was not controlled by the Iriquois. 3 of these estates exceeded 1 million acres in size. The farmers themselves had largely become nothing more than tenants by the Revolutionary War.

There were other systems of land ownership that were attempted at various times in various places in the New World. The town grant, and military bounty being two notable methods. Under a town grant system, a set number of men would agree to establish a new settlement together, which would then be planned by a supervisory committee, with the land then transferring from the state to the individuals. This helped to keep the settlements fairly close together to encourage trade. The military bounty began when, in 1646, Virginia gave 100 acres of land to the commander at Middle Plantation. Some land grants were offered with the requirement that settlements be built on open terrain, and filled with armed soldiers. Although few farmers availed themselves of such grants they were used as precedent for later grants during and after the Revolutionary War.

The end result of all of these land policies, at times too restrictive, and at others ineffective, was a steady drift towards pioneer regions of the NE US. Pennsylvania was a favorite of the early american farmer, and by 1726 more than 100,000 settlers in Pennsylvania were officially squatters. Faced with such vast numbers of settlers with no title to their land, the colony enacted a policy whereby they recognized "the right to preemption, with later payment" sometime around 1750. The payments they would later demand did not suit the early settlers, and the colony continued to increase the price for land until the colonists flooded into Maryland and Virginia, where land was perceived to be more reasonably priced. Five pound sterling or less per 100 acres.

The French and Indian War effectively ended this first wave of westward colonization, and left Great Britain as the only power from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. After this expensive war, hoping to avoid further conflict with the Native Tribes; and lacking a unified land policy King George II issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Pioneers could no longer claim unfettered rights to the land of the New World. Those farmers who were already beyond the borders of this new policy (and subsequent revision in 1764) needed to be forced eastward, as they rarely moved at the whim of the crown. Each and every policy implemented to achieve this goal increased animosity towards the crown. By this time the settlers had acclimated themselves to the climate, crops and methods that allowed them to form the base of a completely independent system of agriculture. It had taken a span of time from first landing, to just two years before the american revolution, but there was now such a thing as an american farm.