Agricultural fairs were a minor part of agriculture and rural life in the early Republic. But their rise and fall from 1811 to 1830 marked the beginning of farmers' commitment to improve agriculture through such techniques as selective livestock breeding, crop selection, fertilization, and crop rotation.
The first agricultural societies and fairs appealed to elites. In 1785 educated gentleman farmers and planters organized societies in Philadelphia and Charleston, South Carolina, to discuss the application of science to agriculture. Members included merchants and professionals as well as such prominent citizens as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. These societies offered premiums for the best essays on fattening cattle and the best experiments in wheat growing and pumping water. The city of Washington established a series of market fairs in 1804 and 1805. Organizers awarded premiums to the best examples of each type of livestock sold. In 1809 Washington-area residents organized the Columbian Agricultural Society, which held regular fairs and awarded prizes for the best livestock exhibited rather than sold. The agricultural societies and fairs of the early 1800s, however, were not popular with the majority of people who actually raised most of America's crops and livestock.
In September 1811 Elkanah Watson organized and established the first true farmers' fair at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Watson was a promoter and entrepreneur who had begun to raise merino sheep, an imported breed noted for fine wool. He understood that the existing organizations dedicated to improving agriculture appealed only to urban elites, gentlemen farmers, and amateur scientists. Watson believed that the message of improvement would be more palatable to working farmers if accompanied by entertainment and camaraderie. Fairs needed to feature enough pageantry to "seize upon the farmer's heart" as well as his mind. The 1811 event began with a parade of members of the society adorned with wheat cockades in their hats, livestock, and a band. Exhibits consisted of livestock along with field and orchard crops, and the Berkshire Agricultural Society presented certificates, ribbons, and engraved silver pieces as awards. Over the next few years, Watson broadened the appeal of the fair by adding competitions for domestic manufacturers, a church service, and an Agricultural Ball.
The blend of education and entertainment accounted for the popularity of agricultural fairs into the 1820s. Watson even wrote a book to promote his vision, History of Agricultural Societies on the Modern Berkshire System (1820). Visitors observed the difference between common livestock and improved breeds. Exhibitors displayed sheep with heavier and finer fleeces, stronger oxen, more prodigious hogs, cows noted for producing rich milk in large quantity, and prolific bulls. They wanted to attract those who wished to purchase breeding stock. Exhibits of domestic manufactures were common by the mid-1810s, reflecting the importance of homemade textiles in the years before factory cloth dominated. This new style of fair, dedicated to experiencing improvement rather than merely discussing it, appealed to farm families, especially those with access to New York City and urban markets in New England. Organizers in Fredericksburg, Virginia, conducted that state's first fair in 1823.
The message of improvement was powerful enough to convince some state legislatures to appropriate funds to support county agricultural societies and their fairs. In 1819 the New York legislature authorized payments to Allegany and Genesee Counties to support agricultural societies. Two years later the legislature appropriated money for Livingston and Monroe Counties. Each county was responsible for providing matching funds to be used for fair premiums. In 1819 the Massachusetts assembly provided an annual payment of two hundred dollars to be used for premiums to every incorporated society in the state with capital stock of one thousand dollars that served a county of twenty-five thousand people.
In the late 1820s the popularity of agricultural societies and fairs waned. Increasing production through improved livestock breeding, crop selection, and cultivation practices was difficult for farmers to accept during a period of low commodity prices. Most agricultural societies in Pennsylvania and Connecticut disbanded after 1825 and only one society remained by 1830 in New York, the home of the most societies and fairs. State legislatures also withdrew financial support. While a few agricultural societies sponsored fairs in the 1830s, only the return of agricultural prosperity in the 1840s contributed to a new interest in forming agricultural societies and conducting fairs following Watson's Berkshire plan.