The third and by far the densest episode of Millstone places the Ketchum mill in its historical context—a period of revolutionary agricultural change. Linking technological and political changes to transformations in agricultural industry, this episode tries to account for why the Ketchum mill closed in the 1970s and left Clyde without a feed mill.

The episode begins with a discussion of historiography in which I recognize that there are many ways to tell the story of 20th century U.S. agriculture. Histories of this subject often fit into two broad categories: on the one hand there are triumphalist narratives featuring dazzling technological progress, soaring production, abundant crops, declining global hunger, and lower food prices for American consumers;  on the other hand there are also more critical narratives about power consolidation, inequality, declining small farms, environmental degradation, increasingly inhumane treatment of animals, rising obesity, and increasing economic precarity in rural America. I acknowledge that the history I tell is surely influenced by the histories I’ve read before and my story undoubtedly has characteristics of both triumphalist and critical narratives. In my view, history by its nature will contain some element of bias and all historians are fallible beings making decisions about what facts and artifacts are important as they weave together a story. That being said, I do my best to let facts guide my interpretations and I hope that in doing so the history I tell is both rigorous and compelling.

My account of agriculture and milling in Clyde reflects some common observations about 20th agriculture: as productivity soars, farms consolidate and many of the profits of innovation are left in the hands of corporate agribusiness entities—including seed companies and fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers. The Clyde area today has a small number of incredibly productive farms that produce the vast majority of the commodity crops grown in the area. This situation has eliminated the need for a personal feed grinder like Ketchum and Maloy as farmers in general no longer grow a variety of crops to feed to their own animals instead focusing on one or two specific commodities like corn or cattle. The trajectory of farm consolidation has resulted in trade-offs. On the one hand, food has become significantly cheaper for consumers, including those in Clyde. On the other hand, places like Clyde that developed around farming and agricultural industries like milling have seen many of the people that once made up their communities disappear. Changes in agriculture only partially account for this disappearance, however I argue that they must be a contributing factor. For this episode, I include interviews with current and former farmers, millers, and residents of Clyde to give voice to the complicated and ambivalent feelings about these developments. These conversations were critical to helping me understand how milling and farming changed in Clyde and how it has affected members of the surrounding community.