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Agriculture, American expertise, and the quest for global data: Leon Estabrook and the First World Agricultural Census of 1930*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Amalia Ribi Forclaz
Amalia Ribi Forclaz*
Affiliation:
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Case postale 136, 1211 Geneva 21, Switzerland E-mail: amalia.ribi@graduateinstitute.ch
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Abstract

This article provides a history of the First World Agricultural Census of 1930, an ambitious international attempt to evaluate world agricultural resources through the compilation of global statistics on crops, livestock, and agricultural production. Based on primary archival material, it explores how the census emerged from the connections between American and international institutions at a time when food security and the need to address problems of trade and competition appeared as central economic concerns of interstate relations. The article focuses on the role played by the American agricultural expert Leon Estabrook (1869–1937) and a related network of scientists and economists in the preparation and implementation of the statistical survey. By examining how Estabrook’s vision of economic development and scientific planning was shaped by his national background and redefined by his transnational engagement, the article sheds light on the global dominance and limitations of American scientific knowledge and agricultural practices in the interwar years. It uncovers the political manoeuvrings and negotiations that were necessary to move forward with the project, and assesses the survey’s outcome against the backdrop of the global economic downturn of the 1930s.

Keywords

agricultureAmericanizationexpertsinternational organizationsstatistics
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 44 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

*

Research for this article was made possible by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation; I gratefully acknowledge the valuable research assistance of Dr Francesca Piana. During my research and writing, I benefited from the constructive ideas and suggestions of participants at the ‘Governing the Rural’ conference in Nijmegen in May 2014, ‘The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in a Global Context’ conference in Basel in August 2014, and the public lecture series ‘Governing the World’ held at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies during the autumn term of 2014. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to Martin Bemmann, Cornelia Knab, Davide Rodogno, Corinna Unger, the editors of the Journal of Global History, and two anonymous referees for their detailed and thoughtful comments on various drafts of this article.

References

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31 Fitzgerald, Every farm a factory, pp. 35–6.

32 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-292, Louis G. Michael to Whitney H. Sheperdson (International Education Board), 11 January 1924.

33 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-292, Michael to Sheperdson, 3 January 1924. See also United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics, The International Institute of Agriculture at Rome: crop reporting service, organization, management, adherent nations and delegates, Washington, DC: United States Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 1924Google Scholar.

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38 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-294, note by Dr H. C. Taylor, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, USDA, 16 October 1924.

39 Food and Agriculture Organization Archives, Rome (henceforth FAO), 1 IIA 66 (J 5), 144–5, International Education Board (Brierley) to the President of the International Institute of Agriculture, 19 September 1924.

40 Cullather, Hungry world, pp. 29–30.

41 See Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-293, note on letter from International Education Board to Arthur Woods, 19 March 1924.

42 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-293, proposal for the promotion of a worldwide agricultural census in 1930 by Asher Hobson to Rose, International Education Board, 15 February 1924.

43 See the obituary of Ricci in American Economic Review, 3, 4, September 1946, pp. 666–8. Ricci, Umberto, Les Bases théoriques de la statistique agricole internationale, Rome: IIA, 1914Google Scholar.

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46 FAO 1 IIA 66, Louis Dop to Wickliffe Rose, International Education Board, 23 March 1925.

47 Parmar, Foundations, pp. 91–2.

48 FAO 1 IIA 66, ‘Rapport de la commission pour les candidatures aux places crées du chef de la contribution de “l’international education board”’, undated.

49 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1506.

50 Introductory notes to NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1.

51 Ibid.

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54 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 544–7.

55 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 677. On the bureau’s activities and crop reports, see E 774.

56 For a recent and innovative interpretation of the Populist movement in America, see Charles Postel, The Populist vision, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 3–22.

57 See his own reflections on his abilities in NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 4, E 1810.

58 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 522; McCook, ‘The world’.

59 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, 1582d, Estabrook to his mother.

60 Cullather, Hungry world, p. 20.

61 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 783.

62 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 782–3.

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68 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1494.

69 Ibid.

70 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1524.

71 Ibid.

72 Hobson, International Institute of Agriculture, p. 87.

73 Ibid., p. 92.

74 Tracy, Government and agriculture, p. 122. See also NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, 1546a–c, Estabrook to H. C. Taylor, Rome, 10 July 1925.

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86 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1663.

87 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 4, 2250a–b, Estabrook to Dragoni, 5 November 1926.

88 Hobson, International Institute of Agriculture, p. 112.

89 FAO 1 IIA 66, report by De Michelis to Permanent Committee, 19 November 1926.

90 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-296, Mann to Rose, 20 April 1926.

91 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-295, Mann to Jardine, 5 November 1925.

92 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-296, Mann to Rose, 24 November 1926.

93 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-296, Mann to Rose, 20 April 1926.

94 For a detailed account of these meetings, see NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1669–79. For an official account, see Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-296, report prepared by Estabrook and submitted by De Michelis to the International Education Board, undated, c. spring 1927.

95 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1677.

96 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1674.

97 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, 1681a–c, Estabrook to George K. Holmes, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, USDA, 12 February 1925.

98 FAO 1 IIA 22, circular letter from De Michelis regarding the composition of the international commission of statisticians for the World Agriculture Census, 10 April 1926. The countries that participated were Belgium, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

99 On the meetings that took place between 12 and 15 April 1926, see NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1737–41.

100 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1739–40.

101 See NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1738, opening remarks made at the meetings by Estabrook, Louis Dop and Dore.

102 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1739–40.

103 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-296, Report on the World Agricultural Census, 22 February 1927. Definition quoted in IIA, First World Agricultural Census, p. 7, my emphasis.

104 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1763.

105 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-296, Report prepared by Estabrook and submitted by De Michelis to the International Education Board, undated, c. spring 1927.

106 As cited in Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-298, ‘Progress report of World Agricultural Census Project for the year 1927’, undated, unsigned (probably Estabrook).

107 IIA, First World Agricultural Census, pp. 178–9.

108 Speech by Estabrook to Permanent Committee on the progress of the census, 22 May 1925, in IIA, Procès verbaux du comité permanent, Rome: IIA, 1925, p. 609.

109 The preparation of the itinerary and the logistics of Estabrook’s trip are detailed in NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 3, E 1789, 1794, 1801.

110 FAO 1 IIA 122, report by Estabrook on the progress of the First World Agricultural Census of 1930, 27 September 1928. See also NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, hand-written index of stopovers.

111 Rodgers, Atlantic crossings, pp. 318–43, esp. p. 337; Fitzgerald, Every farm a factory, pp. 157–83.

112 Birn, Marriage of convenience; Cullather, Hungry world.

113 IIA, First World Agricultural Census, p. 173.

114 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-297, ‘Progress report of World Agricultural Census Project for the year 1927’, undated, unsigned (probably Estabrook).

115 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

116 On his travels to Moscow, see NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 4, 2055a–k, confidential report to Dragoni, 22 August 1926. On the changes in American foreign policy in the 1930s, see Ekbladh, Great American mission, p. 25.

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124 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 4, E 1811.

125 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 4, 1891a–b.

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128 FAO 1 IIA 122, Report on progress of the World Agricultural Census by Estabrook, undated, probably September 1928.

129 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 3909. See also FAO 1 IIA 122, Estabrook’s annual report for 1929.

130 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-298, Annual Report of the director of the World Agricultural Census to the International Institute of Agriculture, 4 December 1929.

131 Hobson, International Institute of Agriculture, pp. 112–13.

132 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-298, Hobson to International Education Board, 19 December 1928.

133 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 5, 3121a, Estabrook to Lloyd C. Tenny, Chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, USDA, 14 January 1928.

134 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 3987–8.

135 FAO 1 IIA 122 (R16), Confidential memo by Arthur Sweetser to the Secretary General of the League of Nations, 11 August 1930.

136 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-298, Lauder W. Jones (Rockefeller Foundation) to De Michelis, 4 December 1929.

137 Clavin, Patricia, The Great Depression in Europe, 1929–1939, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000, pp. 100–105Google Scholar. The vulnerability of the agricultural sector to price-downturn has been widely acknowledged by economic historians, but the role of agriculture’s structural weakness in bringing about the economic crisis in the first place has been a matter of controversy. See Federico, Giovanni, ‘Not guilty? Agriculture in the 1920s and the Great Depression’, Journal of Economic History, 65, 4, 2005, pp. 949–976CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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140 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-298, IIA, ‘Note on the results of the world agricultural census’. See also IIA, The First World Agricultural Census, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5: Country results, Rome: Ditta C. Colombo, 1939Google Scholar.

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142 For India’s results, see IIA, First World Agricultural Census, vol. 5.

143 On Czechoslovakia, see IIA, First World Agricultural Census, vol. 2; on Egypt and Mozambique, ibid., vol. 5.

144 FAO 1 IIA 66, De Michelis to the International Education Board, 7 November 1929.

145 IIA, First World Agricultural Census, vols. 2, 3, 4, 5: Country results.

146 Hobson, International Institute of Agriculture, pp. 117–19.

147 FAO 1 IIA 122 (R15), circular letter, A. Brizi, Secretary-General of the IIA, to adhering governments, 19 November 1935.

148 Hobson, International Institute of Agriculture, p. 114.

149 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, E 3939.

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151 NAL, Estabrook MSS, box 1, 4872a–e, memo on health, 20 April 1934.

152 Ibid. See also FAO 1 IIA 122, Mrs Estabrook to IIA, 10 September 1937.

153 McCook, ‘The world’.

154 Rockefeller Archives, IEB, IIA, box 20, 1019-298, Edmund D. Day (Rockefeller Foundation) to Valentino Dore, 9 November 1933.

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