Show A VOICE FROM THE COUNTRY agricultural revolution dooms old fashioned general farm editors note this Is the first in a series of 0 articles on current problems by louis bromfield one of americas Amerl cai leading writers bromfield Is author of the green day bay tree the pulitzer winning earl autumn the rains came pleasant valley and numerous other books by LOUIS BROMFIELD released by features feature lately there has aresen in the mind of the writer doubts concerning two patterns of american life in which all of us have taken great pride in the past these are unwelcome doubts but observation and study of the patterns in relation to 0 the highly integrated industrialized world in which we live make them unavoidable the they are ithac that the old fashioned plo neer pattern of self seh sum dent general farm Is doomed tint that our present comell 2 bated complex economic civilization Ilza ion cannot afford countless small enterprises save under very exceptional circumstances both doubts are certain to arouse protest and even abuse but both deserve the consideration of every thoughtful citizen the general farm producing a little of everything i Is s an american pattern growing out of life upon isolated frontiers and no longer fits into a highly complex national economy omy A few acres of corn or oats or wheat or hay cannot support a corn com I 1 picker a combine I 1 or a hay bailer therefore the gen bromfield bromfeld Brom Beld eral farmer is at once at a great disadvantage in competing with the corn co rn farmer the wheat farmer or th the 3 specialist grass farmer or the ir fruit uit farmer all of whom are doing ng efficient jobs along specialist lines with the high degree of mechanization aniza tion which any specialist enterprise ter ler prise can support because the general farm cannot support a high degree of dechant lit because the general farm cannot support port a high degree of mechanization to the general farmer must work Z long rg hours do things in in an old fashioned slow and inefficient way bation the general farmer must work long hours do things in an old fashioned slow and inefficient way his gross income is almost certain to be only a traction of that of the specialist in dairying grass farming corn and hogs fruit potatoes or any other undertaking where a man is doing one or two things efficiently and well instead ol of 10 or 15 things inefficiently slowly and painfully I 1 know of one specialist farm of acrea raising apples rie ries s and hybrid seed corn which last year grossed 33 it is highly mechanized alfalfa is grown not to feed cattle but to mulch orchards and raspberries rasp berries the labor schedule is balanced the year round with no peaks and no slack periods all attention is focused upon the t three h ree specialties and high production yields per acre rather than gambling upon high prices to survive is the basis of all operations the income is high and the hours short because the farmer is operating efficiently the same acreage operating as a general farm with a few chickens a few cows a few hogs a few acres of wheat oats corn or hay bay could have produced a maximum gross income even in these times of high prices of only about or with a net of not more than the farmer would be at the mercy df at a custom bailer corn picker combine or hay bailer and would be forced to do things the hard old fashioned way and frequently suffer losses because the machinery was not available when his crops were ready bad weather or sudden decline in prices can ruin him or reduce him to subsistence level I 1 suspect that in another generation the old fashioned general farm will have become a curiosity e except in poor agricultural areas where a i f few ew farms c ling cling to the old ways anyone with an observant eye driving through agricultural country can tee see for or himself the waning of the old pattern the well wall painted barns bams and houses the new automobiles the landscaped grounds around the farm house the good fences all of these one sees on dairy farms fruit farms or potato farms the farms that appear to be falling apart are almost always practicing agriculture in the old pioneer pattern A good many of them are closing down each year or shifting over to specialization in order to improve income and living standards or even to survive it is all part of the vast agricultural revo revolution ution now in progress and it Is the result of pressures from our highly integrated mechanized industrialized civilization the farm Is no longer a frontier outpost in the defense against indian attack w when hen it was necessary to produce I 1 nearly early everything that was consumed I 1 in most productive areas of the V U S today a farmer Is an integral part of our social mechanical ch economic structure using electricity gasoline machinery prepared feeds and other things which bind him into the he whole structure so that be must mast integrate himself and his farm into the structure in order to survive the farmer of the future will not be a hunter trapper farmer but a businessman a scientist and a specialist ci all of us will benefit by the change changa in terms of prices lowered through efficiency in terms of health and in terms of taxes which no longer will be needed to dise die farms living by a pattern which has become obsolete and which in the past has cost us dearly in many ways the passing passin g ot of the general farm does not mean the passing of the family sized farm it is not a question of the amount of land but of how it Is used and what the farm plan Is A specialized farm of acres operated under an efficient plan produces 5 to 10 times as much income with much less labor the farmer of the future wilt will not be bd a hunter trapper farmer but a business nei man a scientist and a specialist than the same acreage operated under the old system of egg money tor for the wife sentimentally the passing is sad but im afraid it A is inevitable |