| Show AMICE FROM THE E COUNTRY agricultural revolution dooms old fashioned general farm editor editors s note this is the first in a series of articles on cur rent problems by louis bromfield one of america americas s leading writers bromfield is author of the green bay day tree the pulitzer prize winning earl autumn the kains rams came pleasant valley and numerous other books by LOUIS BROA BROMFIELD IFIELD released by features lately there has arisen 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 the highly integrated industrialized world in which we live make them unavoidable they are ithac that the old fashioned pio neer pattern ol 01 self dent general farm is doomed that our present compall 2 bated complex economic civilization cannot afford countless small enterprises save under very exceptional circum stances v 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 is an american pattern growing out of life upon isolated frontiers and no longer fits into a highly corn coin plex national econ omy A few acres of corn or oats or wheat or hay can not support a corn picker a combine or a hay bailer therefore the gen bromfield eral era farmer is at once at a great dis advantage in competing with the corn farmer the wheat farmer or the specialist grass farmer or the fruit farmer all of whom are do ing efficient jobs along specialist lines imes with the high degree of mech animation aniza tion which any specialist en ter prise can support because the general farm cannot support a high degree of bechani k because the general farm cannot support a high degree of mechanization the general farmer must work long hours do things in an old fashioned slow and inefficient ine r chent 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 tract on of that of the specialist in da crying grass farming corn and hogs fruit potatoes or any other undertaking where a man is doing one or two things efficiently and well instead of 10 or 15 th inefficiently slow ly and painfully I 1 know of one special st farm of acres raising apples nes ries and hybrid seed corn which last year grossed 33 it is high ly mechanized alfalfa is grown not to feed cattle but to mulch ards and raspberries the labor schedule is balanced the year round with no peaks and no slack periods all ali attention is focused upon the three specialties and high prodoc tion yields per acre rather than gambling upon high prices to sur vive is the basis of all operations the income is high and the hours short because the farmer is ing 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 could have produced a maximum gross in come even in these times of high prices of only about 6 or 7 with a net ot of not more than 3 the farmer would be at the mercy of a custom bailer corn picker combine or hay bailer and would be forced to do things the hard old fashioned way and tre fre suffer losses because the machinery was not available when his crops were ready bad weather or sudden decline in prices can an ru ill n hamlar hiiri ir reduce him to subs subsistence stence levo I 1 suspect that in another gener atlon the old fashioned general farm will have become a curiosity except in poor agricultural areas where a few farms cling to the old ways anyone with an observant eye driving through agricultural country can see for himself the waning of the old pattern the well painted barns bams and and houses the new automobiles the e 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 mg agriculture in the old pioneer pattern A good many of them are closing down each year or shift ing over to specialization in order to improve income and living stand a ards or even to survive it is all part of the vast agrical tural revolution 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 m the defense against indian attack when it was necessary to produce nearly everything that was con umed in most productive areas of the V U S today a farmer is an integral part of our social mechanical ch anical economic structure using electricity gasoline machinery prepared feeds and other things which bind him into the whole structure so that be he must 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 all of us will benefit by the change in terms of prices lowered through efficiency in terms of health and in terms of taxes which no longer will be needed to dize farms living by a pattern which has become obsolete and which in the past has cost us dearly in many ways the passing of the general farm does not mean the passing of the family sized farm it is not a ques tion of the amount of land but of how it is used and what the farm farn plan is A specialized farm of acres operated under an efficient plan produces 5 to 10 time as much income with much less labor IRK the farmer of the future will not be a hunter trapper farmer but a bust ness tess man a scientist and a specialist than the same acreage operated under the old system of egg money for the wife sentimental ly the passing is sad but I 1 ra m afraid t is inevitable |
