8 U.S. Presidents with Ag Connections

The third U.S. president is considered one of America’s early agronomists for his use of crop rotations, fertilizer and contour plowing.

Jefferson even developed a seven-year crop rotation for his land:

1. Wheat, followed in the same year by turnips, which he fed to the sheep.
2. A mixed planting of corn and potatoes. After the harvest of these crops, he planted vetch to be used as spring fodder or to be turned in as a dressing.
3. Peas potatoes or both, depending on the quality of the fields.
4. Rye (or wheat) and clover sown in the spring.
5. Clover.
6. Clover. In the autumn, turn it in and sow vetch.
7. Turn in the vetch in the spring. Then sow buckwheat and turn that in, having hurdled off the poorest spots for cow penning. (So these spots could be improved by the manure.)