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Text Box: 4

Geography Seminar: Paper 4

PAPER #4

 

“THE DIFFUSION OF HYBRID CORN IN WISCONSIN”

This is a PowerPoint Paper

 

PROBLEM:

The northward diffusion of corn in Wisconsin came with the development of hybrids.  How is the development of hybrid corn a technological factor that changed the environmental possibilities?  Stress the environmental controls of 1930 as compared to those of the latest 1990s Census of Agriculture.

 

DATA: Copy the PAPER 4 GeoDatabase from W:\Geog\Foust\Seminar\Out\Paper4 to your file space.

The COUNTIES file has Corn Harvested for Grain/Total Cropland Harvested for 1930 and 1974. 

You collect data 1) total cropland harvested; and 2) corn harvested for grain (both in acres) for one year in the 1950s and the latest Census of Agriculture which is taken every five years (2002 is on-line). 

Dividing gives Corn Harvested for Grain as a Percent of Total Cropland Harvested (CHGTCH).  Get the data for both years in an Excel file to use in ArcGIS.  Join the COUNTIES table to your dbf file and do the division to get the percentages in ArcMap. 

 

LIBRARY:

Go to Government Documents in the main library the Census of Agriculture for the 1950s and on-line for 2002 data. 

Start at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/volume1/wi/index2.htm

 

MAPS/CHARTS:

1) Simple kriging map for each sample year of CHGTCH.

2) Growing season (use the weather station data from Paper 3).

3) Growing season (Days) charts of CHGTCH for 1930 and 2002.

4) Maps of other agricultural change.

 

IMPACTS: 

Technology (hybrids) can change environmental POSSIBILITIES.  What impact did hybrids have? Did increased corn production have an effect on other types of agriculture in the state between 1930 and the 2002? Use the Census of Agriculture to find out. 

 

USE:

1) Changes in the value ($) of dairy products as a (%) of total agricultural products sold ($);

2) Changes in the ratio between dairy products ($) or dairy cattle and beef/pork ($) or beef cattle/hogs.

3) A variable of your own choosing.

Remember that these will show change between 1930 and 2002 that reflect the northward migration of corn production.