t A 1976 insight: farming in the Editor’s note: The After nearly a year of following is an article based lookin g back over at 200 on special material from , Donald Paarlberg, director y ears °* our American of economics, USDA. history, try now to look This all new Allis-Chalmers 7580 4-wheel drive tractor has a healthy appetite for big acreage hillsides or flatlands row crops or small-gram farming irrigated acres or dryland ranches Yet every acre of the way, this big beast saves you fuel money Thanks to a 222-hp* six cylinder diesel engine designed with turbocharger, inter cooler, opposing intake-exhaust mani folds and counterbal anced crankshaft features that add up to draft horse perfor mance with small pony appetite C. J. Wonsidler Bros. RDI, Quakertown, PA 18951 Phone 215-536-1935 215-536-7523 Grumelli Farm Service A, J. Noss A Son, Inc. Quarryville, PA RD2, Oley, PA 717-786-7318 215-987-6257 Shorttesyiße Form L H grabakor, Inc. Equipment Lancaster, PA Shartlesviile, PA 717-397-5179 215-488-1326 H. Daniel Wenger, Prop. The beast buittoeat acres, not fuel No Interest On Tractors or Implements bought - with tractors until March 1, 1977. Roy H. Buch, Inc. Ephrata, RD2 717-859-2441 ahead to what the next century or two might bring. What farmers in 1776, drawing upon a century and a half of colonial experience, could have in his wildest fancies imagined the world of the 20th century fanner? For one thing, he would have been too preoccupied with the circumstances of his day to see the underlying trends that would produce the agriculture of the 1900’s He was in the midst of a war for independence that would last six long years. Taming wilderness Then, too, there was a wilderness spanning a continent to be brought under cultivation. It was without roads, schools, hospital, or even the most basic amenities of life. Judging from the technology Here’s 20 forward speeds with a shift-on-the-go Power Director trans mission Draft-sensitive 3-pomt hitch with Quick Hitch Fully independent 1,000 rpm PTO Big 74 9 gpm hydrau lic system Plus full 40° articulation for turns in a tight 17-ft radius center oscilla tion so implements can snake over bumps, ridges, follow dips easily Come in Step up into the 7580's Acousta cab Discover how quiet, comfortable and easy it is to put this powerful beast through its nimble paces Ask for a test-drive now' *SAE engine horsepower (manufacturer s estimate) Power Director is a registered Allis Chalmers trademark BHM Form Equipment, Inc. Annville, RDI, PA 717-867-2211 Ag.-lndustrinl Equipment R 2, Rising Sun, MD 301-658-5568 of his time, the early American farmer would have expected to wrest new farms from this wilderness by his own muscle with only hand tools to help. Farm machines were virtually unknown. He lacked even horsepower. History tells how the American fanner survived and prospered, using methods he did not foresee to overcome obstacles he could not anticipate. He tran sformed a wilderness into an agricultural plant of un paralleled efficiency. But, paradoxically, his problems today seem no less for midable than those of 1776. New Problems They are different problems, of couse; pollution of the environment, threatened shortages of energy and raw materials, a burgeoning world population 1 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Oct. 16,1976 third century pressing on food supplies, the frenetic pace of technological change. In additon, we are warned of new ice ages to come, or of encroaching deserts. And always there is the un derlying fear of nuclear holocaust. Undoubtedly our view of the future also is powerfully influenced by present cir cumstances, some of them undoubtedly transitory. Although we have vastly greater information resources to draw on, the future will yield its secrets no more willingly than in the past. Fear of failure But fear of failure should not deter us. Forecasting is a necessary part of the business of living. Our plans and the things we do to realize them assume that the consequences of our efforts are predictable, even while acknowledging that our foresight is less reliable than our hindsight. The bad guess is a part of the game. Let us begin on the side of the optimists. Scientists tell us that the world probably is some four billion years old, that human beings have been on the earth for perhaps five million years, and that agriculture began about 10,000 years ago. So, it seems reasonable to project that during the next 200 years, hardly an eyeblink in the larger context of time, the world will neither freeze nor fry nor choke nor starve nor blow itself up. Reasonalbe humans Let us make the further assumption that the human race is essentially reasonable and is likely to stop an adverse trend somewhere short of ultimate disaster. What do knowledgeable people think agriculture will be like 200 years from now? Several opinions were sought. In most cases the thoughts expressed are in technological terms. What kind of farm machinery? Will we be taking our food in the form of concentrated pills? Will we all be com puterized? Will we have achieved artificial photosynthesis? A new age This orientation reveals the technological bent of our age. But 200 years is long enough for a new age to emerge. Will technology continue to be our major preoccupation? Will it be in some degree replaced by concern for the aesthetic and the spiritual? For many years now, we have moved away from the individual and toward group action. Will this continue, or has this trend run its course? Will the present institutional arrangement continue for the farm and the non-farm sectors, or will there be change? Bane or benefactor Science and technology will no doubt remain dominant in agriculture for many years to come. But even now the previous unquestioned acceptance of science and technology as the benefactor of the human race is being challenged. Science and technology will increasingly be asked to show broad-scale benefits to the human race. The won ders and marvels of new knowledge and of new [Continued on Page 95J 93
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers