Northeast Iowa – Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area (SSNHA) and the Hardin County Farm Museum will be hosting a book talk for “Industrializing the Corn Belt: Agriculture, Technology, and Environment, 1945 – 1972” by Joe Anderson on Monday, July 27 at 7:00 pm at the Eldora Public Library in Eldora.
The talk will explore how Iowa farmers transformed the Corn Belt into an industrial powerhouse of large-scale production, mechanization, specialization and efficiency in response to the persistent labor shortage and cost-price squeeze following WWII. The focus will be on the changes in Iowa and reasons farmers adopted particular technologies and how, over time, they integrated new tools and techniques.
The book talk will be presented by the author, Joe Anderson, a US History Professor at Mount Royal College, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Anderson enjoyed a ten year career in museum work, most recently as Director of History and Interpretation at Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa. His book grew out of that work experience, as well as conversations with his grandparents about the changes they participated in on farms in Iowa and Missouri.
“We are proud to bring Joe back to Iowa. He has the agricultural knowledge of a man twice his age,” commented Don Short, SSNHA President.
No registration is required for this free public event. For additional information contact 319-234-4567.
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. The Heritage Area covers 37 counties in the northeast quadrant of Iowa. Interstate 80 borders it on the south and Interstate 35 borders it on the west. Through a network of sites, programs and events, SSNHA interprets farm life, agribusiness and rural communities – past and present.
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