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This lecture focused on agriculture on the Great Plains. The lecture started out with talk about prairie polycultures and monocultures. As a result of agriculture what was once a polyculture or diverse variety of plants became a monoculuture of just one plant.

There was also discussion about some of the early farming concepts used on the plains. One such method was called dry farming and involved plowing deep(8-12 inches), keeping soil stirred up to create a dust mulch, and finally water would be stored under the dust mulch. The goal of this method was conservation of moisture but in reality it didn't really do that, in fact practices like this probably helped contribute to the dust bowl. The dust bowl was another topic the lecture touched on and most of the discussion centered on the legends and myths resulting from it. There were stories about how you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, how people taped their windows shut to keep dust out, and also how it was a sign of the coming of judgement day. Some stories did have some truth but ultimately most were fictional. The lecture ended with how things like modern agriculture, practices of conservation and irrigation arose after the dust bowl.

I thought this was an interesting lecture, the Red River Valley is deeply rooted in a history of agriculture and it was a history most of my ancestors took part in. Few of the people in my family farm now so it was interesting to hear about some of the practices my ancestors may have used. It was also interesting to see how farming evolved over time, especially in terms of how farmers tried to adapt to the plains environment.