Information dealing with the number of Jewish farmers in the United States and the increasing interest Jews are taking in agricultural pursuits, are disclosed in the thirty-fourth annual report is sued by Gabriel Davidson, general manager of the Jewish Agricultural Society.
Today there are about 109,000 Jews living in rural territory, a large number of whom derive their living from farm work. In 1900, the report states, there were in all but 219 Jewish farm families in the United States.
To encourage farm settlement by Jews, the society through its loan department has extended more than $7,000,000 in credit to Jewish farmers in forty states since its inception. During the last sixteen years the society has found farms for 1,328 families.
A feature of the society’s work was the establishment of farm settlements according to what is known as the Agro-Industrial plan of settlement. The purpose of the plan is to enable workers in moderate circumstances to establish themselves on small farms an earn a livelihood in agricultural work.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.