Classes pertaining to agricultural economics were first taught at Oregon Agricultural College early in the 20th century as part of the Agronomy Department. In 1917 that department was divided into four separate ones; the Farm Management Department included the agricultural economics courses. Other classes in the subject area were also taught by Dr. Hector MacPherson in the School of Commerce. With the reorganization of higher education in Oregon in the early 1930s, the Oregon State College School of Agriculture in 1933 was divided into divisions, one of which was Agricultural Economics. E.L. Potter was appointed head of the division, as well as head of the Agricultural Economics Department formed within the division.
In 1949, the division system was abolished and the Farm Management Department was absorbed by the Agricultural Economics Department. Barton DeLoach served as the first chair of the combined department, but resigned shortly thereafter. Grant Blanch served as acting chair until 1951, when G. Burton Wood was appointed department chair. Wood served as department chair until 1966.
In 1974, the department name was changed to Agricultural and Resource Economics to reflect its broader role in research and teaching involving new technologies, rural population, income distribution, resource conservation and development, and international trade and development. In 2014 the department changed its name again, this time to Applied Economics, and began offering degrees in Agricultural Business Management and Environmental Economics and Policy.
Oregon native and OSC alum R. Donald Langmo began his teaching career at Oregon State College in 1948 as a member of the Industrial Engineering Department; a decade later, he switched his academic home to the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department. As a researcher, Langmo specialized in the study of industrial engineering as it applied to the harvest and processing of agricultural products. Langmo retired from OSU in 1994 and passed away in 2011 at the age of 92.
The materials were transferred to the University Archives by the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department in 2002 and the Hatfield Marine Science Center in 2006.
This finding aid replaces a stub record created in 2012.
Collection is open for research.
Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes (FV 245), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
The
SCARC is home to several additional moving images collections that document agricultural processes and production, or that focus on endangered species. These collections include the
The Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes are organized into two series: 1. Motion Picture Films, 1954-1980; and 2. VHS cassettes, 1994. Items are arranged chronologically within each series.
The Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Motion Picture Films and Videotapes are comprised of 116 8-mm and 16-mm film reels, and nine VHS video cassettes.
The film reels contain footage of a wide array of agricultural practices specific to the tending, harvesting and processing of crops cultivated in the Pacific Northwest and along the west coast. Apples, cherries, peaches and pears stand out as crops that are heavily documented in the films, though the collection's reels also record activities associated with blueberries, filberts, green beans, olives, onions, peas, pistachios and strawberries. Footage related to the cultivation and processing of oysters, shrimp and turkeys, and to the packing of ice cream, is available as well.
Most of the films are minimally produced and appear to have been used for research and instruction as well as training. Container annotations also suggest that AREC faculty member R. Donald Langmo was involved with the creation of many of the items. Topically, the films cover a broad swath of activities including thinning and harvesting crops as well as receiving, weighing, washing, brining, freezing, packing and labeling agricultural products following their harvest. Individual films also appear to have been created to document the effectiveness of specific types of equipment and to examine the efficiency of particular workflows, especially those used to harvest fruit. Many of the films are set in Wenatchee, Washington, though other Oregon locations including Pendleton, Albany and Medford appear in the collection, as do Moro Bay and Tulare, California.
At least two finished productions are held among the collection's film reels: an item titled "Pea harvesting and brining" that was broadcast on television in June 1960, and a 1980 OSU Agricultural Experiment Station film titled "Strawberries for Tomorrow."
The collection's nine VHS cassettes document a series of lectures delivered by OSU professors and other regional experts during Winter term 1994 as part of the Agricultural and Resource Economics seminar course, "Economics and the Endangered Species Act" (AREC 407/507). Each lecture is presented by a different speaker and topics generally focus on the need to balance moral imperatives with economic considerations when developing policies related to the management of endangered species and their habitats.
Series 1 consists of 8-mm and 16-mm films documenting agricultural and processing methodologies as applied to a wide variety of crops. The series is comprised primarily of 3- and 3.5-inch reels, though 5-, 7- and 9-inch reels are present as well. The 3-inch reels are assumed to contain about 50 feet of footage. Other extent estimates are as follows: 3.5-inch reels, 75 feet; 5-inch reels, 200 feet; 7-inch reels, 400 feet; 9-inch reels, 700 feet.
In most instances, the description of a given item has been derived from annotations made to the packaging in which the reel was stored by its creators. In other cases, film footage has been analyzed to discern the contents of items that are lightly annotated or not described at all.
Film consists entirely of images of title card reading: "Prepared under project Z81, Department of Agricultural Economics." Annotated: "Geo. B. Cox, Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oregon." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Section on 50 # carton filling removed for training loop film." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
Annotated: "Loop film - 1 cycle. 16 F/sec. Total frames = 240." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Loop film - 1 cycle. 16 F/sec. 1. Dispose and get 0.11; 2. Fill 0.31; Cycle 0.42." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Loop film - 1 cycle. 16 F/sec. Total frames = 122." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Reel includes frames of title card reading: "Departmento de Economia Agraria, filmado por R.D. Langmo."16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Television production. 16-mm black and white film with sound, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Total cycle 1.62 min. Possible elements: Load, Walk, Dump, Walk, Unload." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Prof. Langmo, Film No. 5" 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Film no. 3, Prof. Langmo." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Not much footage for micro studies." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Ladder picking - Girette with boxes, 1961; Girette with bag, 1962. Edwards Dyna-Soar, Wenatchee-Yakima, October 1963." 16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
Annotated: "Form mylar on madril, place fiberboard liner in bin, placed formed mylar in bin, fill bin with brine cherries, nail plywood over on bin." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Last 10 ft on 10-18-62; 2 rolls combined 5-14-63." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Seen, Prof. Langmo, Film No. 1." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "with ND-3 filter, full sun." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
Annotated: "25 box ends/bundle; 1500 box ends/pallet; get labels once per bundle." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "Box requirements 900/day - 8 hrs." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Annotated: "First 10' light struck." 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Contains footage of apple processing. 16-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotation presumed to refer to the Ralph Johnson/Moro Bay Oyster Co. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotation presumed to refer to the Ralph Johnson/Moro Bay Oyster Co. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Film appears to depict apple harvest by hand using scaffolding. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Film appears to depict a mechanized approach to fruit harvest. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Film appears to depict a mechanized approach to apple harvesting. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Film appears to depict a mechanized approach to apple harvesting. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Film appears to depict the use of a conveyor belt in apple harvesting. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
16-mm film, 7-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 5-inch reel.
8-mm film, 3.5-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 5-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 5-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
"OMC" refers to Orchard Machine Co. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Pole follow up thin. Hands used where thinning was within reach. One tree start to finish and close-up of pole action." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
"OMC" refers to Orchard Machine Co. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
"OMC" refers to Orchard Machine Co. Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
"OMC" refers to Orchard Machine Co. Annotated: "Over exposed pole thinning. Close up of fruit on limb. Hand and ladder thinning follow up." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Dwarfs, 8' ladder." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Close up of controls and use by John." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Close up of controls and use by John." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Small Golden Delicious. Hedgerow - 2 years old (in planting), 2 foot center. Not edited." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Close up of peach removal. Slow motion. Clamp-shake, release move. End - Apple, slow motion. Splice to apple harvest." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Cut lead end. 2 sections of slow motion. One full cycle." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Whole reel to light. Bin filler at end. Apples falling on ribbon catch frame." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Only a few inches of good film." Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Annotated: "Sklt and S and OSU and Hand; Skookum sorting, hand and AMF." Super 8 film, 5-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
Super 8 film, 3-inch reel.
16-mm color film with sound, 9-inch reel
Folder contains an empty film reel case that is annotated with the details of a process related to separating crab meat using a centrifuge. Folder also contains a short memo from Donald Langmo to Dave King concerning the availability of a new film on apples and pears.
The VHS cassettes described in Series 2 provide nearly complete documentation of the lectures offered to AREC undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a Winter 1994 seminar class titled "Economics and the Endanged Species Act" (AREC 407/507). A tenth lecture titled "How Economics is Being Used in Columbia River Salmon Planning" and scheduled for presentation by University of Washington professor Daniel Huppert on March 8, 1994, is not included in the series. AREC 407/507 was organized by department faculty member Bruce Rettig and each lecture was open to the public.