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Show Forethought Necessary To Successful Farming Dr. George A. Stewart, agronomist, of the Utah State Agricultural college col-lege and Experiment station, and who has made an extensive survey on sugar su-gar beets, writing for the U. & I. Farm Messenger, has the f olowing interesting in-teresting article on "Sugar Beets, a Stable Crop": All crops have their ups and downs and sugar beets are no exception. Production, however, is the only problem prob-lem that has to be solved for the beet grower is guaranteed a minimum price at harvest. With the price of wheat and of other extensive crops depressed and with some of the truck crops low, it may be that the dependable price of sugar beets offers of-fers an opportunity where the land and fanner are ready to proceed in the proper way. J In view of the inevitable up and down movements of prices and of variations in conditions that favor good production, most of the good farmers in our region have already gone onto a basis which calls for a definite plan. Instead of increasing potatoes abnormally when the prices the year before were very -high, and thereby helping to produce a glutted market, the more successful growers produce about a definite acreage of potatoes each year. This should be true not only of potatoes, but also of all other crops and even of the number num-ber of dairy cattle or of other farm animals maintained. After some years of study on this problem, the College has become convinced con-vinced that there i3 nothing more important im-portant than having a definite rotation rota-tion plan in which enough animals are kept to supply farm manure. The importance of a rotation plan not only applies to market conditions, but also to the assurance which a farmer gets from knowing just what he is going to do in order to choose land for each sort of crop. In order .to-'have it in the best condition for good yields, the farmer should really 'know all through the preceding year just what crop is going to be grown the next year on a particular piece of land. The uncertainty as to how many sugar beets are to be grown or how many canning peas has been a serious handicap not only to the farmer in adjusting his financial affairs, af-fairs, but also in preparing the land properly. Probably half of the farmers farm-ers in Cache Valley know just what they expect to do with sugar beets and other contracted crops. The other half of them, however, will remain undecided until well along into the spring. This state of indecision is very costly to the farmers. Those who have not now decided could well afford af-ford to reach their decision in the immediate future. Sugar companies in particular would also be assisted by having the contracts signed up, but the benefit to the farmers would probably be twice as much as to the sugar concerns. The agriculture of Utah and of neighboring states has now passed definitely out of the pioneer stage. This means that agriculture, as with other forms of production, is to be regarded as on a business basis instead in-stead of merely a place in which to live. Pioneering was rather largely a struggle with the land itself. The present assumption is that cultivated land has already been put in a state of full control and it is now necessary to adjust various phases of production produc-tion in such a way that the farmer can regard his unit as a business by itself. As with any other business, there "will be several enterprises, each of which should contribute something; first to the income of the farmer and second, to the putting of the farm on a permanent, stable basis. There are three important questions to answer in this respect: (1) Does it pay, (2) can it be definitely planned, and (3) are the operations of such a nature that they can be satisfactorily performed per-formed ? In attempting to answer the question ques-tion as to whether the growing of sugar beets is a profitable enterprise to the farmer, it is necessary to consider con-sider the relative amount "of income secured from beets in proportion to the land labor used, and also to see '-hether the crops naturally adjust themselves so as to overcome some of the chief obstacles. Dur'ng the past several years it CContinued on page 5) Successful Farming And Forethought (Continued from first page) T has become apparent that sugar beets have been cropped too long n some lands. Any cultivated crop, whether beets, potatoes, beans, or onions, does not pay on poor land. It is necessary to give all crops of this type right of way as regards the quality of land. When this is done, these cultivated crops will ordinarily pay well in proportion pro-portion to the land occupied, which is one consideration. They may or may not pay in proportion to the amount of labor required, which is a second consideration. During the last three or four years, hay and forage crops have occupied 67 per cent of the cultivated land in Utah and have produced 41 per cent of the farmers income. Grain has occupied oc-cupied 31 per cent of the land and has returned 22 Mi per cent of the income. Sugar beets have used 5 per cent of the land and produced 13 per cent of the income, as compared with 2 per cent of the land for potatoes and 5 per cent of the income. All the vegetable vege-table crops combined have occupied 1.4 per cent of the land and have produced pro-duced 3.6 per cent of the income. The figures for fruit crops are not so readily obtainable, but only about 2 per cent of the land is occupied by this crop. Hay and grain crops produce income in-come in much smaller proportion than the land they occupy. In the case of hay and forage crops, the income is only about 2-3 as great as the area of land used. In the case of grain it is about as much. All of the cul-' cul-' tivated crops, however, yield incomes that are 2& times as great as the proportionate area. In the case of sugar su-gar beets, the percentage income is 2.6 times as great as the percentage of area utilized. During the period of three or four years under which these figures were taken there were some very low yields of beets and some good ones. If only the best half of the land devoted de-voted to sugar beets was considered, the income would probably be in the neighborhood of four times as high in percentage as was the area occupied. occu-pied. This statement would likewise be true of all cultivated crops. The occasional disaster to sugar beets from such troubles as whitefly, rootrot, and water shortage has created cre-ated in the minds of many farmers a great deal of uncertainty. When potatoes pota-toes are high-priced there is u strong tendency to run to this crop. Tho two years, l'-O and 1928, guvo such low returns for potatoes that they began to be a psychological four that potatoes pota-toes would never again pay. 1929, however, brought u more favorable price and consequently a better feeling feel-ing toward this crop. The marketing problem in potatoes is a very serious one that sugar beets do have to compote com-pote with. The regular, stable, and full market for sugar beets is un important im-portant item. On tho other hand, potatoes po-tatoes suffer less from such troubles as whitefly. There has never been n case in Cache Valley, however, on properly cultivated and productive land, where sugar beets hnvo suffered suffer-ed severely from cither whitefly or rootrot. , These troubles have always been much worse on land not in a good state of fertility. There are some communities in the west where these troubles are so bad that good farming will not overcome them, but these obstacles ob-stacles are almost entirely in the hands of the good farmer in northern Utah and adjacent parts of Idaho. It is now necessary for the production produc-tion of farm crops and farm animals to be put on a business basis, both as regards the land occupied and the income in-come 'to the fanner. Cultivated crops are roughly about three times as profitable prof-itable in proportion to the land occupied occu-pied as are forage and grain crops. They do, however, require more labor which on our smaller farms is really not a particular handicap. An important impor-tant item is to choose productive land, to have it well manured, and to begin early in the preparation of seed beds. A definite plan is valuable not only regarding the land itself, but also regarding re-garding the farmer. The sooner he reaches a definite decision, the sooner soon-er he can plan to prepare his land and to adjust hi3 labor requirements. Periods of indecision are very unprofitable. un-profitable. In the case of sugar beets, the farmer should decide, where he has not already done so, at the earliest earli-est possible moment and begin to act accordingly. After thi3 decision is reached, there is no reason why the contract should not be signed. The sooner this is done the better it is, both for the farmer and for the sugar su-gar companies. Under good farming, such as will produce high yields, sugar beets have ; been one of our most profitable crops j and could be made more profitable under a system of definitely planned rotation which would permit partial preparation of the land at an early, date. . j |