1919 – 1944: An eye on the west
Advances in growing and advocacy propel industry expansion
Prosperity, depression and the second world war shaped the first half of the 20th century produce business. As the Western United States found its footing, it also found a proclivity for fresh fruit and vegetable production. California sugar beets gave way to lettuce, artichokes and other vegetables, and Washington and Oregon found favor with fruits. Despite the depression of the 1930s, Western growers were responsible for 46% of all the fruits, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States by 1940.
Trend in Cooling Heats Up Production
Today’s “Salad Bowl of the Nation”—Salinas Valley—got its start in 1922 when growers planted a mere 175 acres of lettuce. Because of the crop’s fragile nature, Los Angeles was the only market to receive the first shipment. But thanks to the expansion of ice bunker railcars, growers began to look outside California for market opportunities. Just eight years later, Salinas Valley boasted 43,000 acres of lettuce. “Within five years [of 1922] 18,000 railcars of lettuce, requiring more than 160,000 tons of ice, left the Salinas Valley for the East Coast. This amounted to 33% of the nation’s total production,” reported The Packer’s 100 Years of Produce: Remembering the 1920s.
Many Factors Feed Western Produce Expansion
The U.S. government asked fruit and vegetable growers to increase production during World War II, and Salinas Valley farmers were happy to comply. In fact, by 1950 California lettuce was being shipped to 46 states and comprised 45% to 50% of the country’s total lettuce output, notes The Packer’s 100 Years of Produce: Remembering the 1940s.
World War II also brought the unexpected advantage of bracero labor to the West, which helped to make farming vast plots more feasible. This Mexican labor program brought workers from south of the border on short-term contracts to serve as field hands (a low-paying job that many Americans didn’t want). This allowed huge growers in California, Arizona and other places to increase production as the war continued.
From 1942 to 1964, 4.6 million contracts were signed, with many individuals returning several times on different contracts, making it the largest U.S. contract labor program,
says the Bracero History Archive. Bracero laborers were promised decent pay, the assurance of work at least three-fourths of the term, free housing, insurance and free transport back to Mexico when their contract ended.
Modernization Helps Big Farms Prosper
California farmers were also quick to mechanize operations in the early 1900s, which allowed for higher production volumes and/or quicker and more efficient harvest. “By 1920, over 10% of California farms had tractors compared with 3.6% for the nation as a whole,” noted California Agriculture: Dimension and Issues. Five years later, nearly one-fifth of California farms operated tractors.
Irrigation was another technology that turned the West into a prime producer of fresh produce. Arizona’s Hoover Dam, which began operation in 1935, harnessed and diverted water on a large scale for southern California and Arizona. At the dam’s dedication, President Franklin D. Roosevelt highlighted this important fact: “… Beautiful and great as this structure is, it must also be considered in its relationship to the agricultural and industrial development and in its contribution to the health and comfort of the people of America who live in the Southwest.”
Making Their Voices Heard
Produce volume wasn’t the only thing that propelled California to the title of top producer in the early 20th century. Volume—in terms of voices—also began to matter. When railroads ramped up a 20% increase in refrigeration fees in 1926, farmers came together to organize the Western Growers Protective Association (now Western Growers). This move ultimately led to the railroads cancelling the fee, but more importantly, it gave the Western fresh produce industry a glimpse into the power of collective advocacy. Working together, the industry could accomplish so much more than if they labored alone.
