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f AMMVnOUS AMMOHIA J FOOD CO.
2313 Norman Rd. t Lancaster, Pa.
Ph. 397-5152
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Agromatic
FEED AND MANURE
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quality the MODERN HYDRAULIC MANURE PUMP versatility
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A. Big 12” square plunger
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Question of bigger or better
Recent census data suggests that farms are getting
larger - a statistic that surprises no one. But recently
some farms have been getting much larger, leaving
neighboring farmers to wonder what will happen to them.
Should a farmer get bigger just because it’s a census
trend? Can he find happiness with a few more acres?
All of the trends, surveys and opinions polls suggest that
farmers place additional land at the very top of their want
list. For one reason or another they feel they should add
more acres. But is that a sure way to more income and a
better life or is it merely an ego trip?
There is plenty of research data to suggest that farming
more acres isn’t the key to economic success. Maybe it’s a
combination of management ability and financial backing
that keeps some big farmers from doing as well as their
smaller neighbors. Which lead to the important question -
should a fanner get bigger or get better?
Ask most farmers how big their operation is and they’ll
immediately respond in acres. We’ve grown to expect
acres farmed to be a good measure of farm size. And
certainly it is in a dimensional sense, but what a far cry
from the real measure of a farm operation’s true size.
It will take some serious probing to get at the true size of
a farm business with most farmers dragging their feet all
the way. Either they don’t know or are reluctant to tell
things like gross income, yield per acre, and production
efficiency. They’d rather wow you with the fact that they
till more than a thousand acres. If that doesn’t dazzle you
sufficiently and you keep asking snoopy questions, most
farmers will give you some ball park average yield
figures - and maybe even some broadly applied selling
prices.
But that’s where it stops - they’ve told you enough. With
a little math you’ve arrived at a gross income figure
usually sufficient to boggle the mind and depending on
your loiowledge of fanning, a new respect for'the far
mer’s status as a taxpaying citizen.
In truth, you have only part of an equation that all
farmers must solve for themselves before they can start
to measure the benefits of more acres.
faces all farmers
By JERRY WEBB
Glasbord it a semi-rigid, fiber glass reinforced plastic panel available in
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NO OTHER
FOUNTAIN
STANDS UP TO
Ritchie
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 16.1977—1
Farming a thousand acres poorly, with high production
iposts and low yields, can be far less profitable than
a fourth of that really well. And that’s where so
many farmers are hooked by bigness. They see their
neighbors getting bigger and they notice their own small
earnings. And they figure that a small profit per acre
multiplied by enough acres puts them where they want to
be.
So they rent expensive land and buy much larger,
terribly expensive and seldom used equipment to farm
their great land holding. Much later they leam that
production costs per acre increased, risks increased,
sleepless nights increased and spendable income im
proved little or none.
Once committed it’s hard to back down. Those big
machines have to be loved and cared for and used if they
are to be worth having. A $3O thousand tractor or $5O
thousand combine has an annual cost of ownership that is
staggering.
So once trapped into moving up most farmers stay and
if their health and financial backing hold out they get
better. Yields improve, production costs go down, the
rains fall and they harvest a big crop at a time when
prices are good, That's when it all becomes worthwhile.
But maybe it’s important to get better first. We should
stop measuring a farmer by the acres he tills and look
instead at his productivity and efficiency.
There are many ways for a crops farmer to get better,
more fertilizer, irrigation equipment, improved grain
handling facilities, to name a few. But above all he had to
improve himself - become a better farmer. How does he
get that job done? The answer is through learning. It may
not be as easy and as quick as buying a new tractor and
renting more acres, but it can be just as satisfying.
A fanner who takes advantage of every learning
situation to improve his abilities as a farmer learns to
recognize his strengths and weaknesses and he learns to
get help where it’s needed.
There are plenty of experts available to farmers - many
of them cost free - people who can help them learn and can
advise on difficult decisions. Others can provide services
that a farmer has neither time nor skill to do for himself.
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5