Decline of Wheat Farming and Rise of Dairy Farms

Background Information

Wisconsin, now known as “America’s Dairyland,” used to be one of America’s great wheat-producing states.  Between 1865 and 1879, Wisconsin wheat production declined sharply due to soil depletion, insect infestation, plant disease, and a changing national market.  As wheat crops failed, Wisconsin’s economy had to change, and people of the Fox Valley turned to dairying, lumbering, and papermaking.  Today, we see the effects of the failure of wheat crops in our role as a dairy-producing state, our identity as the “Paper Valley,” and in a landscape cleared of many trees.

Between the 1840s and the 1870s, wheat was a very important crop for Wisconsin farmers.  Wisconsin farmers chose to grow wheat because it required little care between planting and harvest, was fast-growing, could be harvested twice a year, and produced a high yield.  MORE

Click on a Primary Source Document or a Classroom Activity

Advertisement for "Badger Broadcast Seeder and Cultivator", 1879

Photograph of the Knoke Lumber Company Camp, early 1900s

Photograph of logs floating in the Embarras River, early 1900s

Newspaper article "Greenville Wheat," Appleton Crescent, July 14, 1860

Newspaper article "Mr. G. Rohrig of Greenville..." Appleton Crescent, July 21, 1860

Newspaper article about cheesemaking, Appleton Crescent, March 6, 1869

Newspaper article "Wisconsin Cheese," Appleton Crescent, November 5, 1870

Activity #1: Sowing Success for the Wheat Farmer

Activity #2: Lumbering in the North Woods

Activity #3: Cheese, Glorious Cheese (Or, A Cheesy Solution)