Not A Yesterday’s People: The Transformation of Amish Agriculture in the Wayne – Holmes Settlement

By Thuy Dinh

The Amish have always been an intriguing people. Americans’ fascination with the Amish has influenced their popular culture depiction as  plainly-dressed, horse-and-buggy-driving people who shun modern conveniences like electricity and formal education. To modern Americans, the Amish resemble vestiges of a bygone era. However, despite all predictions of their demise, at the dawn of the 21st century, the Amish are still very much alive and thriving. In the context of major shifts in American agricultural landscape, the Amish have emerged as a people who have successfully wrestled with the forces of progress, staying at the cutting edge of agriculture but still within their religious parameters.