Show MOICE DICE ICE FROM THE COUNTRY Ag Agricultural ura ral Revolution Dooms Old Fashioned General Farm Editors Editor's Note This Is the first In a series of articles on curre current current cur- cur re rent problems b by Louis Bromfield One of Americas America's leading writers Bromfield Is author of The uThe Green Bay Tree the Pulitzer winning prize Earl Autumn The Rains Came Pleasant Valley and numerous other books v By LOUIS BROMFIELD Released b by Features Lately there has arisen in the mind of the writer doubts concerning two patterns of American life in which all of us I 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 w we live make mak t them e u unavoidable o able The They are That the old-fashioned old pioneer pioneer pio- pio 1 neer pattern of self su dent clent general farm Is 15 doomed That our present complicated 2 Gated complex economic civilization cannot afford countless countless count count- less small enterprises save under very exceptional circum circum- stances 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 lUe upon isolated frontiers and no longer fits 4 a into a I highly complex corn com plex national econ econ- omy A few acres of corn com or oats or 4 wheat or hay cannot cannot cannot can can- not support a corn com picker a combine or a hay bailer Therefore the general gen gen- Bromfield eral farmer is at once at a great disadvantage disadvantage dis dis- advantage In competing with the corn com farmer the wheat farmer or orthe orthe orthe the specialist grass farmer or the fruit farmer all aU of whom are arc doing do do- doing ing efficient jobs along specialist lines with the high degree of mechi mechanization mech mech- i r. r which any specialist enterprise enterprise en en- can support Because the general farm cannot support a high degree of r i f i Because the general farm cannot f support II orl a high degree of mechanization i Lion tion on the general farmer must work long Jong hours do things in n an old- old fashioned slow and inefficient way way the general farmer must work long hours do things In an ani i old-fashioned old slow and inefficient I way His gross income Is almost i ii i certain to be only a fraction traction of I II I that of the specialist in dairying I grass farming corn com and hogs fruit I potatoes or any other undertaking j i where a Do man is doing one or two I ti Y j things efficiently and well instead of 10 or 1 15 things inefficiently slowly slow slow- Y i ly and painfully r P I know of one specialist farm of E 1 ICO acres raising apples raspberries ries and hybrid seed corn com which 1 last year grossed It is highly highly highly high high- j ly mechanized Alfalfa is grown not notto to feed cattle but to 0 mulch orchards orchards arch ards and raspberries The labor fi schedule is balanced the year round 1 with no peaks and no slack periods All attention is focused upon the three specialties and high production production tion yields per acre rather than gambling upon I high gh prices to survive survive sur sur- vive is the basis of all aU operations The income is high and the hours short because the farmer is operating operating operating ing efficiently The same acreage operating as a general farm with a few hickens a few cows a few a few acres of wheat oats als corn or hay could have ha produced a maximum gross Income Income income In In- come even In these times limes of high prices of only about or with a net of not more than r The farmer would be at the mercy of a custom bailer corn com picker combine or and would be forced to do things the hard old fashioned cd way and frequently fre fro suffer losses because the I. I machinery was not available when his crops were ready Bad weather or st sAden den decline in prices can ruin to subsistence him or or r reduce him level I suspect that in another generation generation generation gener gener- the old-fashioned old general farm will have become a n curiosity except in poor agricultural areas where a few farms cling to theold the theold theold 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 and houses the new automobiles the landscaped grounds around around the farm house bouse the good fences all aU of these one sees on dairy farms fruit farms or potato farms The farms that appear to be falling apart are almost always practicing practicing practicing ing agriculture in the old pioneer pattern A good many of them are closing down each year or shifting shifting shift shift- ing over to specialization in order to improve income and living standards standards standards stand stand- ards or even to survive It is all aU part of the vast agricultural agricultural agricultural tural revolution now in progress and it is the result of pressures from our I highly integrated mechanized industrialized civilization The farm farmis is no longer a frontier outpost inthe in inthe inthe I the defense against Indian attack when it was necessary to produce I nearly everything that was con con- In most productive areas of the U. U S. S today a farmer is an ant Integral part of our social mechanical mechanical me me- t economic structure using electricity gasoline machinery machinery machinery ma ma- chinery prepared feeds and other things which bind him into the whole structure so that he must integrate himself and his farm into the structure in order to survive The farmer of the future will not be a trapper hunter-trapper-farmer but a businessman a scientist aM a All AU 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 subsidize subsidize dize farms living by a pattern which has become obsolete and which inthe in inthe inthe the past has cost us dearly inmany in inmany inmany many ways The passing of the general farm does not mean the passing of the sized family-sized farm It is not a question question ques ques- tion of the amount of land but of how it is used and what the farm plan is is A specialized farm of acres operated under an efficient plan produces 5 p to 10 times as much income with much less labor laborThe y o-y fie tf d r L 4 Y The farmer of the future still ill ill not nol but bill busness business business busi bus be he a hunter tra trapper bunter farmer er-farmer a ness man a scientist and a specialist than the same acreage operated under the old system of egg money for tor the wife Sentimentally Sentimental Sentimental- ly the passing Is sad but Im I'm afraid it t is inevitable |