Friday, October 28, 2011

Chapter 11: The Agricultural Core

Washington D.C. is far from the heartland of America. It is not an agricultural city by any means, it is a large metropolitan city with no vast stretches of farmland. However, D.C. is very important to agriculture in that it is the headquarters for the United States Department of Agriculture.
 The USDA began as a division of the US Patent Office. It's main duties were to collect statistics on agriculture and to serve "other agricultural purposes."It was not until 1862, that President Lincoln established the USDA as its own autonomous agency. The USDA has served many purposes over the years. It has helped teach agriculture and home economics to the public, helped to ensure that food was being produced and distributed during the Great Depression, assisted with loans for landowners, and has helped to provide education on proper nutrition.
Source:http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/files/2009/06/food_pyramid_usda_old.png






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