The Rise and Fall of the Plow
The Rise and Fall of the Plow
The story is that an Illinois blacksmith named John Deere invented the plow in 1837 out of a broken sawmill blade, but in truth the plow had been around for several generations prior to that. Like maybe four hundred generations. (Allowing 20 years per generation, four hundred generations would take you back to the year 5877 B.C. which is about when archeologists actually think the first plow was invented, give or take.)
The John Deere story does contain a kernel of truth however, as Deere’s plow was a very, very good one and he eventually became the market leader in the plow business. His major innovation was to make his plows out of steel, rather than cast iron. So he really did invent something new. There is, however, not even a kernel of truth to the rumor that he invented green paint.
Before the plow was invented, farmers had to use a hoe to dig a tiny little trench in which to deposit seeds so they would grow up to be big, strong plants with lots and lots of seeds on them, enough to plant next year’s crop and have some left over which could be made into porridge or bread, or better yet, beer. The new technology of the plow was much more efficient, so the farmer could plant more seeds and harvest more grain and produce more beer.
The first plows were drawn by humans, but before long the humans got the clever idea of training oxen to pull the plows for them. For some reason I have never understood, the oxen apparently went along with this idea.
Right in there somewhere, it is possible to say that agriculture was invented and hunter-gatherers started to settle down in fertile river valleys and grow their own food. It was less dangerous than hunting and more certain of success than gathering.
Plows didn’t change much from that time until about the fifth century AD, when some unknown German farmer invented a new kind of plow that came to be called the moldboard plow. Until then, plows had been of the type formally known as ards, which work fine and dandy in the light soils around the Mediterranean Sea. The ard was critically important to the flourishing of classical civilization, but it is next to useless in the heavy stuff from which the ground north of the Alps is made. About that time, another unknown genius came up with the idea of mounting the plow on wheels, which made it even easier to draw, an innovation no doubt much appreciated by the oxen.
According to the great 20th Century historian William H. McNeill, the moldboard plow was the key to some massive historic changes. McNeill credits its use in northwestern Europe with shifting the center of gravity of western civilization from Italy to France, Germany and England, and also for ending the period of nomadic invaders (Huns, Magyars, Vikings and what have you) being able to literally ride roughshod over the European farmers. Not only were the farmers now better fed, and thus stronger and more able to fight off the invaders, but some of the invaders themselves, observing how well the farmers were living on their porridge, bread and beer, decided to give up their fermented mare’s milk, settle down and start plowing and planting. They didn’t have any oxen, so many of them used horses instead. Thus the vicious Huns gradually turned into mere Hungarians and Vikings started speaking French, drinking wine and calling their new homeland Normandy.
Later, of course, many of them emigrated to America where the black prairie soil of the Midwest was a whole new challenge for the European plow, a challenge met and conquered by, you guessed it, John Deere and his Steel Plow. (Great name for a rock group.) Eventually, plows were modified to be drawn by petroleum powered tractors instead of hay powered farm animals. Bright green John Deere tractors (along with red Farmalls, orange Allis Chalmers’ and other brightly-colored machines. Ford also made farm tractors and at first you could get one in any color you wanted, as long as it was gray. Later, they made blue ones.) were soon chugging up and down the fields, followed by harrows, seed drills and reapers. The equipment got bigger and bigger with each season and crop yields soared.
But too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and while the plow can justifiably be credited with helping to feed billions, its continued use also led to massive soil erosion. Farmland became less and less fertile, which required more and more chemical fertilizers to keep production up and the fertilizers in turn disrupted the natural soil web with each application.
Gradually too, it began to dawn on farmers that they were on a collision course with a serious ecological disaster. The image of millions of people like the Joad Family from the Grapes of Wrath working their way toward Kern County, California troubled their sleep. But how to stop it?
No-till farming is part of the answer. This practice minimize soil disturbance, meaning less erosion and more available nutrients in the soil. But it doesn’t solve the whole problem because it still requires chemical fertilizers to keep up yields.
The real answer is what’s called regenerative farming, which in addition to being no-till, also removes the need for chemicals, enriches the soil by natural means such as vermiculture (the process of worms digesting food scraps into valuable compost) and the introduction of animals to turn weeds into fertilizer. Animals, like sheep, graze between planted rows to reduce the need for mowing. Constant grazing under vines reduces the possibility of weeds. Simultaneously, they increase soil fertility with their manure and saliva.
That’s what we’re doing here at Union Grove Farm. Yes, we’re a vineyard, growing wonderful, health-promoting seedless Muscadine grapes. But we also grow cover crops like millet and barley, sheep and, of course, worms
And we don’t need do much plowing to accomplish it. In fact, we have only one plow left on the farm, and it’s mostly used to lay down new vine rows. But we do remain somewhat true to the John Deere heritage – 75% of our farm equipment, like our tractors and gators, are that famous bright green and yellow. You want to ride in one? Sign up for a Union Grove Tour and be our guest.