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Soil
Survey of Otter Tail County, Minnesota |
Farming
At the time of its early settlement,
about two-thirds of the survey area was
forested and one-third was native prairie.
Today(1994), about 20 percent of
the county is forested and 80 percent is
used as cropland or pastureland.
In the early years, wheat was the dominant
crop grown. At several times throughout
Otter Tail County’s farming history,
the grasshopper infestations were so terrible
that bounties on grasshoppers were enacted.
The production of corn and other crops did
not begin until about 1905. The Food Security
Act of 1985 included the Conservation Reserve
Program. This program involved taking selected
cropland acres out of commodity crop production
for 10 years and planting those areas to
trees or other vegetative cover for the
purpose of controlling erosion. From October
1985 to the present, Otter Tail County has
had approximately 80,000 acres in the Conservation
Reserve Program. Former cropland could be
brought back into crop production starting
in October 1995, as the Conservation Reserve
Program contracts started to expire.
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Threshing
in Otter Tail County 1910 |
Otter
Tail County holds an impressive agricultural
standing in Minnesota. In 1994, the county
ranked first in production of hay, oats, and
dry edible beans and ranked second in stock
sheep and lambs, milk cows and milk production,
cattle and calves, and total livestock in
the State of Minnesota.  It
ranked third in overall cash receipts. In
1994, there were about 2,950 farms in Otter
Tail County and the average farm size was
about 335 acres. Approximately 550,000 acres
in the county is used for the production of
crops. During the 1994 growing season, 148,100
acres was planted to corn for grain; 37,700
acres was used for corn silage; 130,600 acres
was used for hay, of which 107,300 acres was
alfalfa hay; 45,100 acres was used for oats;
62,500 acres was used for spring wheat; 72,700
acres was used for soybeans; 20,100 acres
was used for barley; 14,900 acres was used
for dry edible beans; 11,500 acres was used
for sunflowers; and 2,600 acres was used for
sugarbeets. Minor acreages of other crops
included potatoes, buckwheat, and rye (USDA
and others, 1995). |
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©Copyright 2001- County of Otter Tail, Minnesota. U.S.A.
All Rights Reserved.
This web site is maintained by the Otter
Tail County GIS Office.
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