“First in war, først i fred, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
How about “first in farming”?
I’d love to add that label to George Washington, if only I could revise and extend the famous quote from the lovprisning delivered in 1799 by “Light-Horse” Harry Lee.
Da vi nærmer os præsidenternes dag pÃ¥ mandag, februar. 18—and Washington’s own fødselsdag on Feb. 22—my thoughts turn to this Founding Father. He was possibly the greatest American in our history. He helped the United States win its independence from Great Britain and then he served two terms as our first president.
Biographers have hailed him as everything from a modern “Cincinnatus” (Garry Wills) to “His Excellency” (Joseph J. Ellis) to “The Indispensible Man” (James Thomas Flexner).
I like to think of him as our Stiftende bonde.
That’s partly because I’m a farmer, ogsÃ¥. George Washington even grew alfalfa, which is what I raise here in the southeastern corner of—wait for it—the state of Washington.
Tilbage i det 18. Ã¥rhundrede, agriculture was America’s top economic activity. Yet Washington stood out as a pioneer.
At first he grew tobacco, as did many of his fellow Virginians. Alligevel sÃ¥ han ogsÃ¥, hvordan tobak udtarmes jorden. Rather than letting fields deteriorate and moving on to other pastures—a standard practice among tobacco growers back then—Washington became an early adopter of compost. He also began to use alfalfa in his seven-crop rotation plan.
Dette var en innovation, and it worked. Alfalfa injected nitrogen into the soil, holde det sundt i de kommende sæsoner. Washington couldn’t have explained the chemistry, but he saw the result. Han var en bæredygtig landmand, før bæredygtigt landbrug var cool.
Til sidst, Washington flyttede i korn. Her, også, han vedtog nye teknikker. Tourists at Mount Vernon today can visit a reconstruction of his 16-sided trædende stald, a labor-saving machine that allowed him to move away from threshing wheat by hand. I stedet, horses walked in circles and stomped the wheat, hvis frø derefter faldt gennem gulvbrædderlameller og ned i et kornglas.
Washington førte ogsÃ¥ omfattende poster. Historikere ved meget om, hvad han voksede, og hvor han voksede det, but Washington wasn’t thinking about posterity. Han studerede sine resultater, altid forsøger at lære sÃ¥ meget som muligt om præstationen af ​​afgrøder og marker. Andre landmænd gjorde det ogsÃ¥, but Washington was among the earliest to expose himself to the rigor of analysis. Han prøvede altid at forbedre sig.
These same records also tell us about his exploitation of other people. At least Washington came to understand the injustice of slaveri. His will granted freedom to the African Americans he held in bondage—a moral advance that too few of his countrymen followed.
I’ve visited Mount Vernon several times over the years. Enkelt gang, tidligt om morgenen, I had a chance to walk inside his grav, som normalt er bag en lukket port. I set my hand on his marble sarcophagus and stood there in silent awe.
I wish I could have told him how much he meant to me as a fellow farmer. I’d also want him to know how far we’ve come with mechanization, genetik, and global trade. The changes would amaze him. He might marvel most of all at our ability to sell what we grow to customers around the world. Det Uafhængighedserklæring, trods alt, complains about the tyranny of “cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.”
Hvis han var der nu, he’d probably still farm. I can almost picture him driving a combine harvester across a field of genetically modified corn or soybeans. He’d track his progress by GPS, indsamling af data til gennemgang senere. He’d listen to the radio, hopeful about commodity prices and worried about our trade war with China. Instead of wearing a tri-corner hat, he’d sport a John Deere baseball cap.
Bag det hele, our Founding Farmer would recognize a few things that farmers share, uanset hvornår de lever: ønsket om ny teknologi, behovet for stabile markeder, og en forpligtelse til landbrugsfremskridt.
Denne søjle dukkede først op februar 13 på Agri-Pulse.