♦—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 2.1968
This may well be the “typical” American farm m
the year 2000. In the right background is a high-rise
cattle barn, with completely controlled environment. At
the left background is a warehouse complex-and re
finery where waste from the barn is purified and re
circulated back to the barn. At the right is a huge plas
tic dome covering ten acres or more and under which
crops are grown with computer-controlled environment
Farmers’ Capital Needs
Will Double
Total assets used by the aver
age farmer will probably double
by 1980 Capital will continue to
be a cheaper resource than la
bor Therefore, the substitution
of capital for labor will continue
in the form of more efficient
machinery and newly develop
ed technology Farmers’ use of
borrowed capital may double to
about $lOO billion by 1980
These statements were made
recently in Urbanna, 111. by a
national agricultural credit of
ficial, Glenn E Heitz, deputy
governor and' director of cooper
ative bank service of the Farm
Credit Administration
“The average value of produc
tion assets per farm is now $73 -
000. compared to $42,000 in 1960
and only $17,000 in 1950,” Heitz
pointed out “The average value
of real estate per farm has in
creased five times during the
last 17 years The average value
of livestock is up three times
And the value of machinery is
up four times,” he said
“To finance this extremely
rapid increase in assets since
1950 farmers have had to bor
row not only moie money, but
also assume a much laiger debt
load in proportion to their as
sets,” Heitz said “In 1940 as
farmers emerged from the great
depression, their debts repre
sented 19 percent of their assets
Under the relatively faioiable
conditions of W o r 1 d War II
farmers were able to pay down
their debts, and by 1950 debts
represented only nine percent of
¥ i ed capital or a very small
Y 68,rS amount of debt, the 30 percent
average ratio may well include
their assets Now debts are back an extremely heavy debt load
up to iv percent of their assets for some Particularly
v , , j the younger ones, Heitz com-
With the continued increased mented “Only top quality man
need for capital, farmers’ debts agemen t will be able to acquire
may reach 3u percent of their the very large quantity of as
assets by 1980 sets needed on farms and han
“Even this higher ratio of die the heavy debt load that will
debts to assets would not be a accompany them ”
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problem in some industries But
in agriculture, where many
farmers operate w'th no borrow-
for maximum production. To the left of the dome is the
farm house and in front of it, the control center from
which the farmer will direct an array of equipment and
personnel" by electronic machines which are jusfr now
being developed- This illustration is from “Agriculture
2000,” a study conducted by Ford Motor Company’s U.S.
Tractor and Implement Operations to project the look
of farming at the turn of the century.
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