Grapes of Wrath: 19

Chapter nineteen starts off by describing how, before Americans took over California, the land belonged to Mexico and the Mexicans. He tells how the hungry, for food and for land, Americans simply took the land and made it theirs. More importantly, and the main point of the chapter, is that farmers became business owners and farming became industry.
Steinbeck describes the farmers as "no longer farmers at all, but little shopkeepers of crops, little manufacturers who must sell before they can make" (pg 232). This shows the mental shift from farmer to businessman; the thoughts of growing to feed a family turned to thoughts of growing for a profit, and a large one at that.
He also distinguished the change of the crops. They turned from family ingredients to crops that would "feed the world" and turn an impressive profit. The crops changed from grain to fruit trees; from simple vegetables to "stoop crops" like lettuce and potatoes (232). Again, this shows the mentality of the change from farming to industry; the want to grow more and more and profit more and more as well.
This, of course, defined America at the time. Farmers turned into business owners and farming turned into industry. However, this also defines America as of now, as well. As seen through Fast Food Nation, the world of food is now just a huge business. There are companies that indeed "feed the world", considering they are one of the very very few companies to produce certain foods, as seen mostly through livestock and meat packaging. Very seldom are family farms seen anymore. It's all just industry and factory work now. It's peculiar that as Steinbeck described the change during the Grapes of Wrath era, he would also turn out to describe the future as well; farmers are business owners and farming is industry.