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A map of the pre-historic cultures of the American Southwest ca 1200 CE. Several Hohokam settlements are shown. The agricultural practices of the Native Americans inhabiting the American Southwest, which includes the states of Arizona and New Mexico plus portions of surrounding states and neighboring Mexico, are influenced by the low levels of precipitation in the region.
Most of the cropland in the Southwest United States is used to grow hay. This is mainly because there are better places in the United States to grow soil-intensive crops, such as the Great Plains and much of California. In New Mexico, 1.55 million tons of hay were grown in 2007. [9] In Nevada, over 90 percent of the cropland is used to grow hay ...
Over time Plains people learned to grow or facilitate the growth of native plants useful as food. Many native plants cultivated by Indians in the Eastern Agricultural Complex were also cultivated on the Great Plains. Squash and beans were cultivated in what is now the United States, independent of Mesoamerica. [4]
The practices associated with keeping livestock also contributed to the deterioration of the forests and fields. Colonists would cut down the trees and then allow their cattle and livestock to graze freely in the forest and never plant more trees. The animals trampled and tore up the ground so much as to cause long-term destruction and damage. [5]
Ammonia from plants built during World War II to make explosives became available for making fertilizers, leading to a permanent decline in real fertilizer prices and expanded use. [95] The early 1950s was the peak period for tractor sales in the U.S. as the few remaining mules and work horses were sold for dog food.
The earliest cultivated plant in North America is the bottle gourd, remains of which have been excavated at Little Salt Spring, Florida dating to 8000 BCE. [7] Squash (Cucurbita pepo var. ozarkana) is considered to be one of the first domesticated plants in the Eastern Woodlands, having been found in the region about 5000 BCE, though possibly not domesticated in the region until about 1000 BCE.
The Three Sisters planting method is featured on the reverse of the 2009 US Sacagawea dollar. [1]Agricultural history in the Americas differed from the Old World in that the Americas lacked large-seeded, easily domesticated grains (such as wheat and barley) and large domesticated animals that could be used for agricultural labor.
Concurrently, the Archaic Indians began using fire in a widespread manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was taken up to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understories, thereby making travel easier and facilitating the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants that were important for both food and medicines. [6]