Nature versus Nurture: The Environment’s Persistent Influence through the Modernization of American Agriculture

Enrivonmental challenges are projected to increase through the 21st century, and it is natural to consider how new technologies change agricultural dependence on the environment. Technological innovation in agriculture was substantial during the 20th century. Is there a progression toward “modern” technological control of the environment that replaces a “primitive” dependency on natural advantages and disadvantages? Alternatively, even as new technologies are introduced, is there a persistent dependence of agricultural production on the environment? There often appears to be a wide dispersion of views implicit among economists, environmental historians, scientists, and others on how much technology mitigates the importance of environmental differences and, in turn, how future environment differences will affect the economy. The development of the United States’ Great Plains offers historical perspective on this fundamental relationship between technology and the environment. During the 20th century, increased availability of commercial fertilizers compensated for soil nutrient deficiencies. Center pivot irrigation machinery and improved pumps made groundwater from the Ogallala aquifer available in otherwise arid Plains regions (Hornbeck and Keskin, 2011). There was substantial mechanical innovation in tractors and harvesters; as well as biological innovation in crop varieties (Olmstead and Rhode, 2008), such as hybrid corn (Griliches, 1957; Sutch, 2010). Some agricultural technologies compensate for environmental disadvantages and other technologies exploit environmental advantages;