Ohio’s #1 industry has always been farming!

rior to the 1800s, most people who called Ohio home earned their living through farming.
They raised wheat, corn, and other grain crops. By 1849, Ohio produced more corn than any other state, and it ranked second in wheat production. Orchards were planted from seeds brought to the region or purchased from people living east of the Appalachians. John Chapman, also known as Johnny Appleseed, played a major role in developing apple orchards in Ohio. The climate made apples and peaches especially easy to grow. Ohio farmers also raised livestock, most importantly cattle, sheep, and pigs.

    It was a new century and most Ohio farmers who produced a surplus sold their products locally or sent them down the Ohio & Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. Then canals arose during the 1820s and 1830s, diverting some of the traffic from the Ohio River. Area farmers sent product down the P&O and Ohio Canals, to the Erie Canal, which ended at the Hudson River in eastern New York. By the 1840s and 1850s, railroads replaced the canals and connected Ohio with much of the rest of the United States, allowing farmers to transport their products quickly and cheaply to market.

    The economy grew for most of the nineteenth century, and some Ohioans began to invest in other businesses, but the vast majority continued to farm the land. It is important to note that most  early factories and industries grew out of Ohio's farming. Area flour, cotton and woolen mills employed thousands of workers. Others produced farming machinery.

    By the late 1800s, competition from other states reduced the prices farmers received for crops, and new farm machinery was very expensive, forcing smaller farmers out of business. There were periods of success for Ohio farmers, especially during war times, as U.S. farmers provided its allies with food, but farming, for the most part, was in decline. Ohio began to rely more on  industrialization and less on agriculture by the late 1800s, and by the early 1900s, a majority of Ohioans lived in urban areas, finding employment in industries outside of farming.

    Yet, agriculture still remains Ohio's #1 industry during the 20th and,
now, the 21st centuries.