Carver’s Impact on Agriculture
While at Tuskegee, Carver devoted his time and effort to research aimed at improving Southern agriculture. Much of the land had been depleted by the years of growing cotton. Carver recommended planting peanuts and soybeans, both of which restore nitrogen to the soil. He found that sweet potatoes were also well suited for southern soils and climate. Even though the crops were successful and had a good yield, the farmers were not pleased because they couldn’t find buyers for their produce. Carver had to find uses for the products so farmers wouldn’t have to return to cotton as a cash crop.
Farmers were also cautious about cotton because boll weevils could ruin the cotton crop and had done so in 1892. When the boll weevils returned in 1914, Carver was able to reveal the results of his experiments which increased the number of farmers who turned to peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes for income. Carver’s invention of over 300 uses for peanuts and 118 products from sweet potatoes helped pave the way for peanuts to become a major crop for southern farmers and helped poor sharecroppers, many of whom were former slaves, earn a living.
Carver's epitaph reads: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."