Rodale Press and Organic Gardening

Abstract

Fig. 1, J.I. Rodale (1898-1971). A gricultural opinions in the United States drastically changed following the economic collapse of farming in the late 1920s and the dust storms and the exodus of farmers due to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Many thought agriculture had failed and new methods of farming must be found. The most successful new system of agriculture was the establishment of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), with Hugh H. Bennett as its chief. Bennett was a forceful, charismatic speaker who caught the imagination of the agricultural community and, especially, college students and young farmers. SCS had dramatic success on the highly erodible soils in the southern United States, Terracing, strip cropping, and rotations together with lime and superphosphate reclaimed abandoned farmland. A familiar “before and after” picture was a nondescript cow in a pasture with three hoof-soil contacts visible and a Hereford standing knee-deep in clover. Obviously, that could not happen in 1 year, but it actually did happen over several years. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) pilot farms were important in promoting lime and superphosphate. The key to the success was preventing erosion and rotating crops with a legume. Raising the pH and supplying phosphorus ensured good stands of legumes. One popular conclusion from the success of the SCS programs was that improving the soil not only increased the carrying capacity of the pastures but also improved the nutritive value of the forage. W.A. Albrecht, Head of Soils, Univ. of Missouri, was a leading voice in promoting the idea that improving the soil by fertilization and increasing the organic matter improved the nutritive value of forage. In fact, the conclusion that soil fertility was an important factor in the health of animals and humans was so widely accepted that the U.S. Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory was established in 1941 as a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Regional Laboratory at Ithaca,