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Show Page 2A. SPECIAL SECTION. TIMES, February 17. It77 during a month when agri cultural activities are slow. During harvest time, at least 1,000 additional farm hands are added to the employment list. The figures also do not take into account the number of farm-relate- d employees working at such places as the sugar factory and farm implement houses. In 1974, 519 farms were operated on a full owner basis and increase over 436 in 1969 ; 306 were operated on a part owner basis, a decrease from 344 in 1969; and 93 were operated on a tenant basis, an increase from 56 in LEADER-GARLAN- County AQtimHute 9 J . I 1969. Wiial is Box that level. The year 1974 was a benchmark in agricultural prices - and a fluke which saw $4 and $5 wheat and record high beet prices. Wheat is currently selling for $2.50 - $2.95 a bushel and beet farmers figure at the current prices, they'll lose Elder County Agriculture? It's many things. In 1974 - the last year in hich Census of Agriculture igures are available, it v.i-- . 1,150 farms of all types m! 1,0 farms with sales of .'i Sl.itoo. The latter num- r was up from 1969 when :h. rouniy boasted of 1,018 - : Expenses, meanwhile, have maintained their increase and gone up further still in the past two years since the census was taken. Box Elder County agriculin 1974 was also ture 86,979 head of cattle and calves up from 71,675 in 1969; 2,804 hogs and pigs down from 3,692 in 1969; 8.409 chickens (three months or older ) down from 16,562 in tul iliS. But that number of increase in the farms represents a decrease in the size of farms resulting in more with less. Total acreage in farms with $1,000 in sales and over declined from 1,663,251 acres in 1969 to 1,519,594 in - 1974. And the average size of the individual farm correspondingly dropped from 1,634 acres to 1,386 acres. The total number of cropland farms increased during the same period from 973 to 1.041. But total cropland acres declined from 355,734 to 293,993 acres between 1969 Box also. sold totaled an increase of almost double over the 1969 figure of $22,537,000. But shouldn't be deceived L'V the figures into thinking that farm production prices have maintained products $43,520,0130, non-farme- rs Elder agriculture was 2,407,695 bushels of 99,821 acres 126,220 tons of wheat grown on on 574 farms; hay grown on 42,299 acres on 652 ar tion expenses almost doubled, the farm census shows. Production expenses went from a total of $18,500,000 in 1969 to $33,345,000 in 1974. The value of agricultural - .1969. and 1974. The number of farms wasn't the only thing which increased during the period. Total producfive-ye- an acre. $100 . farms; 2,276 acres of vegetables, sweet corn or melons grown on 96 farms; 1,897 acres of orchards on 78 farms; 171 acres of Irish potatoes grown on eight farms; and 73,372 bushels of corn grown on 2,363 acres on farms. Elder County agriculture is also people. And in 270 Box 1974, according to the census, the average age of the farm operator was increasing. In 1969 the farm optr 's average age was 49.9 but in 1974 it jumped to 53.1. According to December 1976 Job Service statistics, there were 1,380 people employed on Box Elder farms at-or- On 626 of those farms, farming was the principal occupation of the operator. But operators on 257 farms listed something other than farming as their principal ma 1 occupation. . The family farm still leads the way in farm organization and increased between 1969 and 1974 from 692 to 795. Partnership organizations declined from 118 to 88 farms and corporations (including family owned) increased from 21 to 32. Farm values, by virtue of farm sales, broke down like this: About 100 farms had sales valued at $100,000 and over; 180 sales of $40,000 to $99,999; 187 sales of $20,000 to $39,999; and 451 farms with sales of $19,999 to $25,000. While the number of farms are increasing and acreage per farm is getting slightly smaller, the number of Utah's and Box Elder County's farm population as compared with the total pop- . w ti&- . . THE PRODUCT of small farm sheep flocks readied for market are checked by Ray Finch, extension marketing specialist, Utah State University, and Carl Rhodes, president of Box Elder, Cache, Oneida Lamb Marketing Pool. Both are from Tremonton. Lambs are assembled at the Garland Stockyards. In Box Elder County, acc- ording to the 1970 census, 59.7 percent of the popula- tion lived in urban areas which was defined as towns of over 2,500 population, 2,232 lived in places with populations of 1,000 to 2,500 and 9,096 lived in places of less than 1,000 population. ' , ulation, is shrinking. In 1920, for instance, Utah's farm population totaled 141,000 or 31.3 percent of the total population of 451,000. In 1970, Utah's farm popu- lation totaled 38,000 or just 3.6 percent of the total state population of 1,059,000. With a similar trend evident across the nation, it's simple to see why the farmer, as a group, no longer commands the political clout among politicians as potential votes that he once had. Lb - h -- , A - V mm j rp ft t Pick-U- p And Delivery Dee wt epprtewfe femwrs "r - y " rTu I rtstchus. , toe, Pntton Tit II ,i. t KK I'ltO.M previous ear shows ellei tiveness ol runnier ash in removing al the Mine ( reek Kxperime il.il Farm. from lls 8S2-CZS- 4 Treisionfofl 257-554- 5 |