Adapting to the Land: A History of Agriculture in Colorado

This work takes a broad look at the history of agriculture in Colorado with a special focus dedicated to evaluating “the extent to which Colorado agriculturalists adapted to or stretched beyond the limits of the land” (4). It is largely successful. The authors provide an interesting and insightful survey of how agriculture—its practitioners and their practices—has changed across the state in the interest of sustainable production, in the face of increasing urbanization, and in response to significant challenges brought by climate shifts such as drought.John F. Freeman, a historian with a PhD in early modern European history who has written two other books on agriculture in the region, seemingly wrote the majority of the content, with Mark E. Uchanski, an associate professor of horticulture at Colorado State University, providing specialized knowledge and expertise in agricultural science most evident in the last two chapters. This is a compelling and fruitful combination of experts, as the book addresses both the social history of farming and the agro-environmental history of how farming developed, which produces a fuller interpretation of how Colorado's “outspoken farmers have advocated for agriculture that is enduring, economically profitable, and socially responsible” (9).The book moves chronologically, covering roughly 175 years in a quick seven chapters. Beginning with a very brief explanation of Indigenous practices, the authors then move through several prominent periods of Euro-American settlement and development. Roughly organized around significant periods within the state's agricultural history, eras that include increasing adoption of technology, the hard years of depression and the Dust Bowl, urbanization along the front range, and rising support for organic production, the work engages the history well by addressing these paradigm shifts in context. The dominant theme throughout the study is the relationship between farmers recognizing natural limits and their attempts to adapt in response to such constraints. The authors identify several examples of this, ranging from utilizing aquifers to support irrigated agriculture to developing wind farms on the plains. Importantly, they also clearly state that the attempt to adapt to limits often proved unsuccessful, which frequently resulted in increasing reliance on the federal government. Moreover, they take that history and turn it to the future by contending that Colorado farmers will have to continue adaptation in the face of changing relationships with the land, government, and each other.This is a concise and readable survey of the state's agricultural history that is both well written and based on sound research. Its most significant contribution is presenting that story in a condensed and appealing way. The authors use state agricultural extension service and experiment station records to construct an engaging study of agriculture across Colorado, which is an almost impossible task and a noteworthy achievement. The authors also trace several of the dominant trends, especially the urbanization of the Colorado front range and changes in the sometimes problematic relationship with the federal government, with an eye toward today's obstacles. Adding a historical perspective to ecological and environmental issues reinforces how many of these problems are not, in fact, all that contemporary. This then provides insight about, and injects some optimism into, current discussions about the right paths forward for Colorado farmers, whether that means a shift to organic or emphasizing regenerative farming, for example.The concise nature of the work is, unfortunately, a double-edged sword because it often leaves the analysis a bit underdeveloped and limits coverage of the history. For instance, the authors mention the relationship between spirituality and stewardship at a few points throughout the book, a compelling point and one that could potentially help bridge content between chapters. Instead, they sprinkle cases showing this dynamic in a few chapters dispersed along an extensive timeline, weakening the contention because they fail to fully develop those connections. In addition, the discrete focus does not allow the authors to give much attention to the cycle of drought that often hits the eastern half of the state. They point to the Dust Bowl and discuss dryland techniques in some depth, to their credit, but droughts from the 1890s, 1950s, 1970s, and 2010s receive scant coverage. Connecting those periods with a stronger agro-environmental emphasis would help build the foundational theme of adaptation.These quips are minor and do not take away from the work's significant strengths. This is a readable introduction to the topic and should appeal to anyone interested in the history of Colorado, how farming has changed in the state, or what problems the agricultural community faces going forward.