Agricultural Leadership in Vermont After the Civil War, 1871-1908

In a  2012 paper on the history of the NY Agricultural Society, Bob Bitz covers the many historic achievements of the organization.  While his authored report is historic in nature relative to New York, the same approach with agricultural societies took place in Vermont later.  In Vermont in 1850, a State Agricultural Society was established. These societies had been erected in many counties in the state and were responsible for the local agricultural fairs that held  educational events that helped address farmer and farm family needs at the time (many of these county fairs still exist).  Former Governor Holbrook of Brattleboro, an agriculturist, helped to establish the state Agricultural  society and was elected as the first President .  He served in that post from 1850-1858.  By 1860 there were 941 agricultural societies in the US. These state agricultural societies were behind the creation of the State Board of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Mining in Vermont in 1872 as similar societies had been in the other nearby states.  By 1877 it was just referred to as the Vermont Board of Agriculture.

The Boards went on to establish Farmer Institute’s as a way to convey the best scientific knowledge and information at the time.  A need for this approach was best described as follows: “There was trouble in rural America during this era…. It was boring schools, antiquated farmer practices, and lack of knowledge of scientific farm practices.  Even though Land Grant Colleges had been established, the scant scientific knowledge was not making it out into the rural communities.”

The Vermont Board of Agriculture, Manufactures and Mining, Established In  Vermont in 1871

Under the initial Act, the Board was to consist of the Governor, the President of the State Agricultural College, and six others nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.  The Board was required to hold at least one business meeting each year, and one meeting for the public on matters relating to their investigations by discussions, essays, and addresses. Vermont was not the first state to create such a Board.  They had already been established in New York in 1819, New Hampshire in 1820, Massachusetts in 1855.  Perhaps the clearest purpose of the Board and its need was made in the address by its Chairman, Governor John W. Stewart in the first annual Report in 1872, and a statement by Matthew Buckham, President of the State Agricultural College.

Remarks by Governor Stewart on the Object and Aims of the Board:

“The object of the Board is two-fold.  First to benefit agriculture directly, increase the fertility of the soil, and render returns for labor more remunerative.  The second object is to give the people a new sense of the importance and dignity of agriculture; to give them to understand that it is the most dignified pursuit that any man follow. It involves a knowledge of the principles that underlie all the sciences, and the appropriation and employment of these principles….Agriculture is multifarious, including not alone the tillage of the soil, the raising of crops, but also horticulture, arboriculture, the breeding of animals; so much that is closely allied to science.  Indeed no pursuit is in my judgement so scientific as that of agriculture. The principal objective of the Board is to awaken interest and provide discussion among farmers themselves  The discussion of agricultural facts brings them home to mind far more forcibly than mere reading.  Boards of Agriculture are already in existence in other states, and unless Vermont means to fall behind, she must take hold of the work.”

Remarks by  Matthew Buckham, President of the State Agricultural College, Member of the Board, who will go on to serve under many Administrations

“If I do not mistake the signs of the times, agriculture has entered an era in which it is destined to make more rapid progress than in any previous age.  The stimulus has come from various quarters—partly from the necessity of competing with the more productive agriculture of the West; partly from the growing scarcity of labor…..; but mainly from the increased attention given by studious men to the applied sciences, nearly every one of which has a direct bearing upon agriculture. …this Board could do no greater service to the agricultural interests of the State than to devise some way in which the fundamental maxims of successful agriculture could be brought home to every farmer in the State”

What was Agriculture in Vermont Like in 1870? 

Agriculture in Vermont had already undergone many challenges by 1870. “The upheaval of the Civil War, the lure of the West, and the growth of cities drew people off the farms.”  It was difficult for families to make a living on steep and hilly and often rocky land, and many did not continue to try.  While alcohol production and consumption was significant in rural America and Vermont prior to 1850 (there were 125 to 200 active distilleries operating in Vermont in 1810), shorty after 1852 Vermont narrowly passed a law completely prohibiting the sale of alcohol which stayed in effect for fifty years impacting the use of farm products in the production and sale of alcohol. 

The Land Grant Act had been passed in 1862 and UVM had become a Land Grant College with a mission of education around agriculture and mechanical arts. In crops and livestock, Vermont had lost its position as a leading state in the production of grain and as the leading merino sheep raising state.  It had moved abruptly to dairy, first becoming a leading butter producing state. The opening of the Champlain Canal followed by the Railroads around 1850 made it easer to get to markets, but also allowed food and other products to be shipped in to Vermont and regional markets at a price that often was cheaper than having it produced locally.  This sentiment was expressed at many of the meetings (later called Institutes) held by the Board, and lasting often more than one day and in several town locations in the State.  In 1875, twenty public meetings were held, and in 1876 twelve, covering a period of sixty-four days, with several hundred subjects introduced. These Institute sessions were held throughout the period that the Board existed. In1904, for example, 48 Institute meetings were held throughout the State with attendance exceeding ten thousand.   The Board during the time of its existence was “judicious in the employment of men of lectures, selecting those who were expert in several lines of farming: stock raising, fruit culture, dairying, sugar making, sanitary conditions, farm building, markets, etc.  The aim was to create a higher grade of farming” by bringing both intelligence and enterprise together.”

Competition with the West and other areas had become severe by 1870, and the significance of this was best captured by the Reverend G. F.  Wright of Bakersfield, in a paper presented at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture at St. Albans, March 6th and 7th, 1872

“Our railroad policy at the West is pushing the development of the agricultural region faster than the growth of other industries demands.  The significance of this is that it is useless for the Vermont farmer to compete with those of the West in raising those few staples of production that can be naturally raised west, and that they will bear storing and transportation without risk of injury, and without too much expense.  There is no doubt that the markets East can be supplied with wool, wheat, corn, pork, and beef from the West cheaper than we can supply them. …..But the great increase of population and of wealth at the East indicates a growing market for milk, for the first qualities of butter, and veal and mutton and for the products of the garden, the bee-house, the poultry yard and the fish pond. ….The Vermont farmer has a substantial hold on the future.  The soil, climate, abundance of pure water, the proximity to the markets of growing cities and villages, give the farmer unrivaled facilities for success in these branches of industry without losing all the profits in transportation.”

A similar sentiment was expressed by M.V.B. Hathaway of Hardwick at a Board meeting in 1878.  

“The only recourse …for the New England agriculture to protect her interests in the future, to successfully compete in her best markets with western neighbors, seems to lie in the improving excellence of her products.  Superior quality is everywhere recognized and rewarded.”

At the Vermont Dairymen’s Association meeting in Montpelier in 1888, it was stated that,  “Vermont can compete with any State in the production of first class dairy products.”

At a meeting in Vergennes in 1900, T.B. Harriott of Georgia, stated from a creamery and cheese factory standpoint “that with effort only can we retain and sustain the standard of Vermont butter and cheese to where Vermont maple sugar now stands unapproachable, the best in the world.”

Others expressed similar views.  At the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Vermont Dairymen’s Association Meeting held at Brattleboro, in January of 1900, the President, G.W.Pierce said,  “…The question has often been stated of late, how should we meet the western competition: its answer may be summed up in a few words, produce a better article.  We must constantly study the latest improved methods, constantly seek new ideas. …Our success depends in a great measure upon the marketing of our goods.  Let us sell as direct to the consumer as possible.”

Over its thirty-seven years of existence, the Board of Agriculture actively addressed ALL of the subjects important in helping to create a higher grade of farming in the state.  It did this through many Institute meetings each year throughout the state with papers delivered on a number of subjects relating to farming in the state,   Some of its accomplishments;

 

• Recommended the establishment of an Experiment Station at the University of Vermont:  The Board authorized the Secretary to the Board to attempt the establishment of an Agricultural Experiment Station.  It was noted, “These Experiment Stations have proven of so much value in Europe, and similar institutions have done such satisfactory work in our own country, that it is desirable that Vermont establish one.”  The Vermont General Assembly approved the law for the Experiment Station in 1886, and placed it under the charge of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College.
• Brought increased scientific information to the farm community that before that time was not easily accessible on a number of subjects important to the success of agriculture and farming in the state.  At the time, the Federal Director of Agricultural Experiment Stations at USDA hailed the Farmer Institute initiative as carried out by the Vt. Board of Agriculture and in other Boards in other states as models of success.
• Raised concern about railroad passenger and freight rates that were not considered fair nor equitable, and supported the Grange efforts in this regard.
• Supported the need for increased cooperation among farmers and farmer groups, called the New Agriculture.
• Held Farmer Institute meetings in many counties of the State every year bringing the best scientific information available to farmers and their families, often joining the Vt Dairymen’s Association and the State Grange in the support of these sessions.
• In 1880s and early 1900s the “selling” of Vermont began in earnest and the Board of Agriculture tried to entice immigrants, mainly Swedes, to buy abandoned hilltop farm property.
• In 1891 the Board created a pamphlet, “The Resources and Attractions of Vermont,” and in 1893 the Board developed a list of desirable farms that could be bought.   

By 1909, the Board of Agriculture that had been established by the legislature was replaced  with the Commissioner of Agriculture, appointed by the Governor. The Commissioner abolished the Institutes and in lieu thereof established Movable Schools of Agriculture as adopted by other states, suggesting, “they could be held with not greater expense and with more efficiency than our old Institute system”.  Something of this sort was the First Annual Farmers’ Week under the direction of the State Agricultural College and the Commissioner of Agriculture.

Postscript:

Intelligence and enterprise by farmers utilizing the best scientific knowledge available was the important objective of the Farmer Institutes as carried out by the State Board of Agriculture over its thirty-seven years of existence.  According to records that exist, it was this concept of bringing the best scientific knowledge forth that led to the eventual creation of the Federal, State, and County Extension Service in 1914 with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act. It is stated that after the passage of this Act, federal authorities discouraged the use of federal funds for Farmer Institutes instead focusing on the role of the County Extension System.   It was a time in America when fifty percent of the population lived in rural areas, and thirty percent were engaged in agriculture.

Agriculture has changed significantly in the state.  In 1850 the State had 29,763 farms and a population of 314,120, and today Vermont has just over 6,000, U.S Census defined, operating farms and a population of approximately 625,000. Vermont was an agrarian state in 1870, and agriculture was the livelihood of most of the residents. Most of the leaders at the time had very close ties to the land and to farming. The early farm leaders and others recognized then the inability to compete with the West with many farm products produced in the East.  Many of those market challenges still exist.

Various ways have been used to address these economic hardships or challenges to include greater diversification of products on the farm, production and cost efficiencies, extension education, new product development, cooperative marketing, branding of products, better balancing of supply to demand, technology and market innovation. State programs are often used as well, to include current use taxation, purchase of development rights, conservation incentives, working landscape funding, Farm to Plate, Food Hubs, agricultural lending, and direct financial assistance.  The federal government’s role too has evolved with many laws, programs, and regulations.  

A review of history as continued in some of these old documents show that some of the issues are not new; just the generation dealing with them, and often the approaches used. It appears that the then advantage of the Board of Agriculture structure that existed for thirty-seven years was that it brought the best scientific information available at the time to farmers and their families and rural communities so that farming could be advanced through intelligence and enterprise.  It involved the highest attention of the State (Governor) and the State Agriculture College (President of the State Agricultural College), and eventually with the Experiment Station resources to address the needs and concerns of the farm community.  It has been noted by historic information on the topic of Farmer Institutes, that their function was absorbed by the Federal, State and County Extension Services in 1914 with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act, that placed its operational responsibility at the Land Grant Colleges. The County Extension, Home Economics and 4-H Agent structure that existed in Vermont up until the 1980s when it was changed to a regional specialist concept.  Extension is still based upon the old Farmer Institute approach with its connection to the State Agricultural College in connecting farmers and others with the best available knowledge on a subject that may be known to exist.