Education is cornerstone of famed scientist’s career
DIAMOND, Mo. — Historian Gary Kremer says George Washington Carver’s impact on his students is as important a part of his legacy as his achievements with agriculture, conservation and crop uses.
Kremer, now the executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, remembers a research project that helped illustrate the impact Carver had, both for agriculture but also in the lives of his students.
There are a handful of inventions that have truly revolutionized agriculture. The steel plow and the threshing machine and the gas-powered tractor are some that stand out. But just 50 years ago another one hit the market and it is still in use across the country — the big round baler.
“I think the major thing about the big round baler is that it moved hay making from being mostly a manual labor type of job to a mechanized one,” says Stuart Birrell, a professor of agricultural engineering at Iowa State University.
Illinois history rich with agricultural innovations
Patent drawing for Joseph F. Glidden's Improvement to barbed wire
From Wikimedia
John Deere and Joseph Glidden — who invented the self-scouring steel plow and barbed wire, respectively — are well known throughout the world as agricultural innovators. John Franz may not be as famous, but his invention also dramatically changed the trajectory of modern agriculture.
The three men are enshrined in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. They have something else in common — they all have strong ties to Illinois.
