Solvable Problems: Science & Technology in Henry A. Wallace's Agricultural Reforms

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Between 1920 and 1948, American agricultural research and practice was revolutionized through the creation and use of new scientific and technological innovations. While some historians have studied particular innovations, no one has yet considered the nature of this change, or located it within the agricultural-scientific elite of the state and federal agricultural system. Further, no one has considered the paradoxical situation in which these innovations, which generally increased crop and livestock yields, were developed and promoted at a time when overproduction of commodities was generating a serious economic crisis for farmers. In this project, Dr. Fitzgerald is investigating these issues by considering the role of Henry A. Wallace in his capacities as editor of Wallaces' Farmer, president of Pioneer Hybrids, and Secretary of Agriculture. As arguably the most influential farm leader of this period, and one who held a progressivist faith in science and technology, Wallace was a pivotal figure in the attempted resolution of scientific abundance with farm parity. Dr. Fitzgerald argues that Wallace redefined farm problems in ways that rendered them "solvable" with scientific and technical expertise. That the farm problems remained nonetheless reflects not Wallace's naivete, but rather the inability of science and technology of the period to solve what were fundamentally social and economic ills. In order to carry out this research project, Dr. Fitzgerald will examine, among other things, the 165 microfilm reels of Wallace correspondence, published primary and secondary agricultural literature including farm papers such as Wallaces' Farmer and Prairie Farmers, trade publications, and government documents and administrative records of the USDA and its Bureaus.