— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 9,1971
4
Trend to Part
There’s fto question tfiat change is oc
curring in U.S. farming. The change is not
new, however ;_the_move from the farm to
the city and then back to'the suburbs has
been underway for decades now.
Within this massive movement of
people there have been many trends, such
'as the one toward bigger and more specia
lized farms.
But there’s one trend which we think
probably hasn’t been well understood and
properly noted. It’s the trend toward part
time farming.
. In an article on part-time farming this
year, the Farm Credit Service magazine
.stated, “Over the years farming has be
come more and more mixed with other pur
suits, until today about 92 per cent or near
ly three million American rarm operators
ireceive some of their income off-the-farm.
■i “One might be tempted to say that we
'are a nation ot ‘part-time' farmers, but the
of non-farm income varies from an
insignificant amount for one farmer tq a
.major portion of the family income for an
other. According to the most recent U.S.
farm census, off-farm jobs brought in in
come equal to 36 per cent of the value of
farm produce across the nation. This a\er
,aged nearly $4,800 per farm operated.
“That’s a sizable average for any farm,
and on two out of every five farms in the
country the off-farm income was greater
than farm income.
“This outside income comes from many
sources such as government payments, pro
perty rent, interest in bonds, stock divi
dends and retirement payments. But the
greatest amount comes from salaries and
wages paid for work done outside the
ifarm.”
The credit service goes on to note that in
;■ 1965 half of all farm operators worked off
the-farm. during the year and the figure
' goes up'to 60 per cent if other members of
'the family are considered.
The report continues, “What kind of
jobs do these part-time farmers w r ork at?
About 60 per cent receive wages and
salaries from such jobs as factory work,
construction or road work. About 45 per
cent report government payments soil
bank, fertilizer and lime values, feed gram
.program payments as outside income.
Nearly 30 per cent get interest and di\ i
; dends from loans, stocks and bonds, and a
slightly smaller amount from pensions and
, social security.
j “One out of eyery 10 farmers with out
jside income reported-it from custom work,
,‘rent, or a business and profession.”
The report also notes the wide diversity
in the number of hours worked and the
amount of money earned off the farm. The
total money imolved, howei er. was a whop-
Farming-Still a Future
There is much talk these days about
the future of farming and trends in farm
ing, such as the mov e to bigness and specia
lization. There's also higher taxes, pres
sures of urbanization and on and on.
At first glance, a farmer could easily
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. 0. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
Office: 22 E. Main St., Lititz, Pa. 17543
Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191
Robert G. Campbell, Advertising Director
Zane Wilson, Managing Editor
Subscription price- $2 per year in Lancaster
County: $3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Published every Saturday by Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa.
17543
Member of Newspaper Farm Editors Assn.
Pa. Newspaper Publishers Association, and
National Newspaper Association
Time. Farming
ping $8.3 billion in wages and salaries alone
What is the future of part-time farm
ing? While there is disagreement by various
authorities, the report states, “If urban
problems and pollution continue to plague
our nation, country living on a part-time
farming basis will be encouraged. . . .
“And as small towns try to become
more attractive by bringing in industry,
their labor force may well come mainly
from the surrounding part-time farms.
“Without considering the economics of
part-time or full-time farming, we can be
sure that millions of people will prefer to
live on the land close to the quiet and peace
of the country and in an environment ideal
for raising families.”
We’re sure that most farmers in South
eastern Pennsylvania know of many per
sons who are part-time farmers.
There are some with full-time jobs off
the farm who keep sheep or feeder calves.
Many farmers do custom work or operate
or assist in a farm related business. Many
work at local* industries or commercial
businesses.
As we see it, the number of part-time
farmers will grow in the years ahead.
- One of the keys to staying on the farm
is to make the farm produce enough income
so that the individual can make as good a
living by staying bii the farm as by leaving
it.
As income in non-farming occupations
rises, the farmer must make his farm pro
duce more to stay competitive. This has
spurred the trend toward specialization and
bigger farms.
But there’s. generally more than one
way to accomplish the same thing. Part
time farming is -another way to increase
the overall farm income without either get
ting bigger or leaving the'farm,
The more members of the family will
ing to cooperate the greater the range of
choice. Some members of the family can
contribute to the overall health of the farm
operation by working off the farm for addi
tional income, while others work full-time
on the farm.
While we think full-time farming is still
a great way of life, we recognize that ex
panding farm populations are faced with
fewer farms. But rather than being a source
of disappointment, we think this situation
is a challenge to farmers to display their
usual ingenuity.
A little thought and, cooperation, w e be
lieve, will prove to everyone’s satisfaction
that there is truly’ opportunity for everyone
While some may choose to leave the
farm, this isn’t really necessary. Growing
numbers of farmers all o\er the country
are finding it’s possible to work off the farm
and still remain a farmer.
be led to believe there’s no future for him
on the farm.
But we know a very high proportion of
farmers aren’t so easily discouraged and,
we think, for good reason. Farmers have a
lot going for them, including trends toward
more people who consume more.
All those figures about fewer and few
er farmers can be scary, but we know that
quite a few farmers are reaching the con
clusion that someone has to grow food for
the growing populations and, since they like
farming, it might as well be them. The plain
truth.is that the fewer farmers there are,
the more opportunities there are for the
remaining farmers.
The individual farmer, to be success
ful, may from time to time have to readjust
his thinking on the types of crops or pro
ducts he grows and how he manages his
farming operation.
But we believe that if he's energetic
and sound in his thinking, his future is as
secure as anyone else's in a changing world.
To Add Phosphate To Manure on the barn floor above the live.
Many soils continue to need stock will serve as good insular
many sous u tion an d reduce condensation!
additional ptosphorus. Live moving £1
stock produce* are ur § ed ™ warm> fou l air in confinement
add super-phosphate in tne * necessarv r
manure at the barn. Dairymen barns 18 necessary.
may put the phosphate in the . . ,
gutters and cattle feeders may To Raise Dairy Replacements
broadcast the phosphate on the 1
manure pack before each bed- We have some ’of the best
ding Manure re-enforced with dairy cattle in the country iiji
phosphate will make a more this part of the state. The value
complete fertilizer and help of good herd replacements ife
with the sanitation practices very important to any herd,
about the barns. Therefore, we continue to urge
dairymen to do the very best
To Recognize The Value job of raising their heifer calvep
To Insulation 80 , thei1 ’ h^ d „ wlll
Calves should be in pens or
Buildings filled with livestock stalls free from dampness ana
during cold weather may need from drafts. Special
some attention to both ventila- for young calves is desirably
tion and improved insulation where they will be able to grow
When warm air strikes a cold rapidly into heifers with sizp
surface, condensation takes and added physical ability. The
place and we get sweating and demand for surplus herd re
dripping from the walls, win- placements is good and an extrs
dows, or ceilings. In some barns source of income for the purd
a six-inch cover of straw or hay bred breeder. |
“OLD-TIME
RELIGION”
lesson for January 10,1971
(•ckgraunal Scripture: McHlww 914-17;
13:31-33, SI, 52; Mark 4.25-29.
Bishop Gerald Kennedy on the
United Methodist Church tells an
old story of a hungry Arab, who,
one night in his tent, lighted a
candle, and peeled open a date,
to his dismay, there was a worm,
iside. A second
id third date al
had worms. Ex
iperated, the
•ab blew out the
indie and ate the
mrth date.
“Rather than
ice unpleasant
ialities,” coin
tents Bishop
Kennedy, “we of-
Rev. Althouse ten find it easier
to stay with things as they are
and hope for the best. It hardly
ever works.”
"It's good enough for hie”
Many of us may be like the
Arab: we do not like to face un
pleasant realities. One of the
most unpleasant realities for
Christians today are the rapid
changes sociological, techno
logical, theological, moral, poli
tical taking place in our world.
They are unpleasant because they
are challenging us to change and
we do not want to change. It is
not so strange, then, that many
of us look back to the- "good old
days” and sing; “Give me that old
time religion... it’.® eood enough
for me.”
No doubt about it, the old-time
religion was good. But what we
forget is that what made it
“good” was that in its own day
it spoke to the needs of people
where they were. Its genius was
that it was not geared to some
day gone by, but present circum
stances. Though it preserved the
best of the past, it was not afraid
to push on into the .future with
whatever new resources God
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
would give.
“We never did if that way j
before" j
When we go hack into the BiJ
ble we find that all the great mo-,
ments of spiritual history werel
regarded as “new-fangled” by
people when they first appeared.!
Moses was often rejected by hid
people because he would introjj
duce some “new thing” from Godt'
It doesn’t take too much imaging
ation to hear the people of Israel -
greet Moses down from Mount
Sinai with the Ten Comma*®
ments, saying: “But we never didj
it that way before!”
It was the same story when
raelite leaders tried to unite thf
tribes into one unified nation;
when David sought to build a
temple, when prophets chal
lenged the people with theiir
“new ideas.” It was also thia
kind of resistance which gave
Jesus so much opposition and
which, indeed, brought about hia
death. His preaching and teachf
ing were radically “new” and
“different” and quite contrary
much that the rabbis held dean
Jesus tried to help them to unj
derstand that his message waj
not really “new,” but rather i
contemporary interpretation ojE
the eternal truth. No one, hi
said, “puts a piece of unshrunk
cloth on an old garment, for the
patch, tears away from the gar
ment and a worse tear is made.r
The same is true in tp
pour new wine into old wine
skins. The fermentation of thb
new wine will burst the old,
weakened material. ,
Old wineskins
The wineskins are the various*
forms in which we express our.
religion. They are our religious
institutions, our style of church
life, our form of worship, our
mode of witness. These forms
wear-out in time and the fresh
ness of the .Gospel is always in
danger of bursting them. The im
portant thing is not the wineskin,
the form, but the eternal reality,
the new wine. It is the Gosptf,
not our forms of expressing iL
that is eternal. At onfe time it
was normative to. worship secret
ly in catacombs; today there is
no need to do so. The important
thing is that we worship,- not
where or how or when.
(Based on outlines copyrighted bjr
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in to,
U.S.A, Released by Community Prat*
Service.) ‘ ; [ |
1 * I