Gallery "Mississippi Delta" focuses on the devastating impact on farm workers and small communities in the Mississippi Delta brought about by changes in agricultural production. The Delta’s leading crop for over a hundred years was cotton. There are reports of farms going from a thousand or more unskilled workers to a dozen trained equipment operators as a result of the evolution in the 20th century from mule to tractor to mechanical cotton picker as well as the development of labor saving herbicides. Additionally, a majority of the cotton fields have been converted to crops that are less labor intensive such as corn. As a result, many businesses which supported that population closed and the communities left behind became a shell of their former selves. Agriculture continues to dominate the Delta. Today, the use of mechanized equipment under GPS control and operated by one person working thousands of acres can be found throughout the Delta. You will see no one standing and working in a field.
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