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Show 1 f Agricult ng Called Off, But Wa- mit the Supply i ) , - - ; .-"V !.r : .'.- 5 j , , -' ""I landles Two Rows at a Time. 4 d s 5 ? as cast iron, rubber, zinc, copper, that had gone into farm machines in pre-war days, had to be diverted to make tanks, military trucks, landing craft, guns and other war goods. In 1939 American farmers were able to buy 161,000 new tractors. trac-tors. But that was a year when this country made only 2,141 planes. In the calendar year of 1943, when American farmers were able to buy a mere 85,000 new tractors, the United States manufactured more than 85,000 planes mainly for war. The critical shortage of raw materials ma-terials that put a ceiling on manufacture manu-facture of new farm machines in 1942 has been superseded by a shortage short-age of manpower and components. During the first quarter of the 1945 farm machinery production year, manufacture of new machinery exclusive ex-clusive of wheel tractors, repair parts and attachments was approximately approx-imately 25 per cent behind schedule. sched-ule. This lag in production was caused by manpower shortages and the difficulty dif-ficulty in obtaining components, chiefly malleable and gray iron castings. cast-ings. In the Middle West, where most of American farm machinery is made, the labor supply is inadequate, inade-quate, a condition that will not change while war goods are still urgently ur-gently needed. One concern, that before the war made approximately 35 per cent of American farm ma- Big Increase j Parts, Howevj IWill Be Avail The farmers of At continuing, as usuj magnificent job ofl foodstuffs. In 1941 eighth successive I produced a record! despite a steadily I manpower sup reached its lowest I years. I Agricultural tools art rationed, but that doesnl the farmer, though he II ey, is' going to be able! new tractor or combin.I ! so he can improve on I tion miracle he has alrtj plished. I It's . the same old trcl had since Pearl Harbor. I war on! Manufacture o chinery, although recogil essential civilian "must'l has to be balanced in relt rect war production. I Here is the way the! ment sums up the i During the 1945 crop expected that Americai I will obtain approximnl same amount of new fl ITEM Tractors Corn pickers Mowers Rakes (side dnj Hay loaHs"' " - -L ST- " ' V t . f t i 1 ? 'r ' - ' t i i E - - - i . -, i Hay Baler Saves Labor. v - i )ws at a Time, Saves Labor. facture for the 1945 crop year of more planting, fertilizing and tillage equipment than for 1944. Included are such items of farm equipment as corn and cotton planters, listers, potato planters, beet and bean drills, endgate seeders, fertilizer distributors, distribu-tors, tractor plows and cultivators, disc harrows, walking cultivators and rotary hoes. During the war, manufacture of farm machinery, although recognized recog-nized as an essential civilian "must" program, has had to be balanced in relation to direct war production. When the United States entered the war, production of farm machinery machin-ery was sharply curtailed because munitions production had become an exacting demand on this country's supply of steeL The steel, as well chines, reported in October, 1944, that by March, 1945, it would probably prob-ably be short 6,000 workers needed ta keep production up to schedule. In effect, during the war this country has asked its farmers to raise more crops with less men to do the work, to keep their' farm equipment in working order or-der somehow without counting too heavily on replacements, and to share their machines with other farmers whenever and wherever possible. To help farmers keep their machines ma-chines going, manufacture of repair parts and attachments has been increased in-creased considerably. In 1944 the scheduled production of repair parts and attachments amounted to approximately ap-proximately 28.3 per cent of the to-: to-: tal farm machinery output, as com j pared with 14 per cent in 1940. i Twenty-one per cent more farm I commodities were produced in 1944 I than in 1940 with 5 per cent fewer j workers. The annual employment on American Amer-ican farms decreased from 10,585,-000 10,585,-000 in 1940 to 10,037.000 in 1944. Approximately Ap-proximately 4,000,000 workers have j left agriculture for war industries ! or the armed forces. Approximately 1,700,000 farm men i had entered the military service up to January 1, 1945. American farmers have been getting more use out of individual individ-ual farm machines during the war. The exchange and cooperative co-operative use of some machines, such as tractors and combines, has increased markedly. One corn picker, for example, might be used to harvest as much as i 1,200 acres of corn in a year. Combines have been hauled a thousand miles to harvest crops on farms in county after county. TRACTOR PRODUCTION For the Period July 1, 1943, to July 31, 1944 Non- WFA Canada FEA Army Navy Farm Total Special purpose I under 30 h. p 2,873 4,977 4,194 1,749 261 515 14,569 Special purpose 30 and over 6,645 5,239 7,935 2,066 215 651 22,751 AH purpose under 30 h. p 157,877 8,028 11,061 139 45 1,846 178,996 AH purpose 1 30 and over 21,495 1,209 2,023 14 20 205 24,966 Garden tractors .... 10,131 235 1,470 89 ' 8 263 12,196 199,021 19,688 26,683 4,057 549 3,480 253,478 |