Editing Refrigeration (section)

===Electricity in rural areas===
In the early 1930s, 90 percent of the urban population of the United States [[electrification|had electric power]], in comparison to only 10 percent of rural homes. At the time, power companies did not feel that extending power to rural areas ([[rural electrification]]) would produce enough profit to make it worth their while. However, in the midst of the [[Great Depression]], President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] realized that rural areas would continue to lag behind urban areas in both poverty and production if they were not electrically wired. On May 11, 1935, the president signed an executive order called the [[Rural Electrification Administration]], also known as REA. The agency provided loans to fund electric infrastructure in the rural areas. In just a few years, 300,000 people in rural areas of the United States had received power in their homes.

While electricity dramatically improved working conditions on farms, it also had a large impact on the safety of food production. Refrigeration systems were introduced to the farming and [[food distribution]] processes, which helped in [[food preservation]] and [[food safety|kept food supplies safe]]. Refrigeration also allowed for shipment of perishable commodities throughout the United States. As a result, United States farmers quickly became the most productive in the world,<ref>{{Citation|periodical=Rural Cooperatives|last=Campbell|first=D.|title=When the Lights Came On|url=http://www.rd.usda.gov/files/CoopMag-aug00.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424031515/http://www.rd.usda.gov/files/CoopMag-aug00.pdf|archive-date=2015-04-24|date=August 2000}}</ref> and entire new [[food systems]] arose.