OCR Text |
Show Page 4 UTAH FARM BUREAU May, 1969 NEWS Premiums Dn Agriculture IgfHAT WILL AGRICULTURE be like in the 21st century? A number of projections have been made. One of the most complete and extensive is that done by the U.S. Tractor and Implement Operations of the Ford Motor Company. About five years ago this division launched a study to find out what the experts thought might take place in agriculture by the year 2000. Ford first called upon its own technical people to project the forward movement of agriculture. Next, scientists from major fields were convened at Michigan State University. Then a team of farm specialists canvassed hundreds of other scientists and agribusiness experts from many countries. This effort took approximately three years and initial reports were first released in the latter part of 1967. Ford has continued to add to its stock of information on agricultural projections. Printed below are excerpts from Fords U.S. Tractor and Implement Operations report on Agriculture 2000. The report represents the consensus of scores of top authorities on what agriculture will be like in the 21st century. 't'i&A , ' ! v ' ' f Ulotirntian by Ford U.S. Tractor ' mod - i? v Operation Implement s y .... V s 4 Building (ike this high-ris- e dairy atrurture will dot the rural landscape in the 2Iat century. Tlie building's temperature, humidity, fresh air and J light will be automatically regulated. Waste products will be flushed through disposal pipes to a treatment building where the water is purl . H fied and recirculated to the drinking units. Feed and water storage will iv be located on the top floor with rations delivered automatically to' ' dairy etch znimaL- I i --yJUuttrmitm IcMVtitiy , Ford iS. sj ' Tractor and Implement Operation 'i The heart of the farming operation of the future may very well be aW. control center equipped with a wide array of electronic wizardry. Closed circuit television keeps the., fanner in touch with every farm Job Manytfarm operations will be controlled from this center -- driverless equip ' ment, automatic irrigation systems, etc. Weatber forccssts,' mark analyses and other information will be beamed in daily from pwenry'O ment offices, trade associations and private services. ' ' ',& -- - Agriculture 2000 The efficient farmer of the year 2000 is a super breed of farmer, with super skills and super tools. The heart of his operation is a control center equipped with a wide array of electronic wizardry. Closed circuit television keeps him in touch with every farm job. Weather forecasts, market analyses and other valuable information are beamed in daily from government offices, trade associations and private services. Information comes on data telephones, three dimensional color television channels and direct micro-wav- e circuits. His receivers also make printed copies. Important farm articles are stored informaon electronic tape in a far-of- f to center. wants When he read a tion story, it is transmitted into his office and printed immediately. He has his own computer to calculate chemical formulas, least-costl- y feed rations, and to help make other short-terdecisions. For more complex problems, he electronically beams his question to huge memory computers at an agricultural university or commercial source, and consults with the best farm management brains in the world in a matter of seconds. Unbelievable? We already have computers with eyes to scan reports . . . and ears to hear spoken messages . . . and some that even talk from precoded messages. But this is only the beginning. Why will a farmer need such brain power? In the year 2000 his farm is much bigger, and vastly more complex. From half a million to a million dollars may be invested in the farm. That is three times or more todays commercial farm average. He grosses a quarter of a million dollars or more per year. His net profit is a hefty twenty to thirty thousand dollars or more. The farmer of 2000 invests less of his own capital and borrows more. He operates under what big business calls permanent debt, and keeps it at a fixed level. He hires men at the going rate of six to eight dollars an hour or more, plus incentives. Some large factory farms hire dozens of men. But family farms are still highly competitive, . ' :v; ' " i , 'f tned . ' . - ,V; ' m 't ? V' i ... s-' s "S-- ' ' m ' i - . V . w , . S 4 The aided by new credit systems and other adjustments. The farmer of two thousand is probably the son of a farmer and the grandson of a farmer. He incorporates to make financing and ownership transfer easier. Companies compete for his business by offering elaborate service packages feed formulating, prescription fertilizing, engineer consulting, linear programming and many others. He buys his products and service at centers that provide everything from custom-mad- e hog houses to estate planorders direct on instant Or he ning. phonovision. The crops and livestock he produces are shipped in trucks, monorail cars, or even by helicopter. He sells on contracts that spell out quantity, quality and price before he plants his seed or breeds his sows. Some produce may even be contracted directly with other countries, shipped on giant jets big enough to hold huge ed semitrailers. His farm produces a wondrous variety of taste and nutrition sold in pushbutton supermarkets, or ordered directly from a homemakers kitchen. Among the products are such products as uncooked beef and poultry that need no refrigeration, thanks to atomic ster- ilization . . . meats artificially made from soybeans and other vegetable protein . . . milk from cows bred to supply specific nutrition, as well as milk manufactured from pea pods and carrot tops. The supply of food miracles seems endless. Farmers will wear seven league production boots to provide such bounty. By the year 2000 yields will zoom to five hundred bushel, corn . . . ten bale cotton . . . three hundred bushel wheat . . . one hundred seventy-fiv- e bushel soybeans . . . thirty ton forage . . . thirty thousand pounds of milk per cow . . . and one thousand pounds of beef at ten month age. A pipe dream? Not when you realize todays average corn yield is less than eighty bushels per acre, yet some farmers have grown three hundred bushels. And the genetic potential is twice three hundred. The average dairy cow now gives less than eight thousand pounds of milk per year; yet, one placid cud chewing Holstein recently gave over forty thousand pounds. Such amazing yields wont come overnight. But ideas on test today will be widespread on farms a decade from now. They are the forerunners for the fantastic farms of tomorrow. Fantastic Farms Lets look ahead to how these ideas will have been developed by the year 2000. Squatty corn plants will turn out whopping yields of five hundred bushels or more per acre. Plants shaped like pine trees will lap up extra suns energy and ears may be attached near the top for easier harvesting. Hybridization natures will turn out charger super- stiff-strawe- d d cotton and forage wheat, with more blossoms. A farmer will n corn varieties for plant y corn for cattle humans, and high-o- il corn for processing industries. Hell grow a pair of crops in the time it takes to grow one today, thanks to short season hybrids. A farmer will prepare the soil and plant these potent crops with powerful new machines. Tractors of the year long-fibere- high-protei- high-energ- |