The Agrarian Political Economy of the Northern Great Plains: The Agrarian Question Revisited

• In Event: 1429 - Informal Discussion Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 5: Rural and Environmental Sociology

Abstract

How does the “agrarian question” help to interpret the ultraconservatism of the Great Plains? What help can it give progressive forces in the United States, and those in the region in particular, in turning the US away from its present course towards climate catastrophe and the continued pressure on the working class?
I present the case below that the nature of capitalist markets in agriculture have led to the concentration of land in fewer hands, despite the barrier to corporate ownership of land in some areas. The types of products produced also matter a great deal. The short growing season of the northern Great Plains favors the major grain crops (corn, wheat, soy). These require massive of amounts of capital to raise successfully. The concentration of land in fewer hands has led to an exodus from the northern Great Plains, temporarily halted by an oil boom in the region.
The backbone of progressive organizing, some of it socialist, some not, relied on the social ties among small farmers. The end of small farming has led to the dependency of these organizations on the Democratic Party or their complete dissolution. Reviving these political organizations will require reconstructing the independence of these organizations and a new understanding of social class for rural regions that bridges the rural/urban divide in United States politics that looks beyond the ultraconservatism of the present to the possibility of a socialist future.

Author

• John Kenyon McCollum, Minot State University