ElB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 16,1980
Secretary ot Agnculime
Bob Bergland set off a big
round of discussion about
the future of the family
farm in a senes of “struc
tures” meetings held over
the past several months
What was said at those
meetings would fill
volumes, but it boils down
to an outcry for agricultural
policy that preserves the
family farm tradition.
That covers a lot of ter
ritory and ranges from
seemingly absurd sugges
tions aimed at limiting
farm size and farm owner
ship, to credit systems that
make it easier for the fami
ly farmer to get started or
to hang on.
The family farmer has
been at the heart of
American's food producing
mechanism for many
generations, but some feel
he’s an endangered species.
He’s defined as a farmer,
who with the labor of his
own family operates a com
plete production unit. These
units have continued to
decline in number and in
crease in acreage and in
come.
Today, no more than two
percent of the population
farms the land and many of
those must be defined as
larger-than-family farm
units.
The old traditional family
farm emerged from the
horse era as a viable
agricultural unit. A farmer
“18 years without
replacing a single part.”
w,
“We checked out the competition carefully when we
bought our first Cornell Barn Cleaner We had to
have a tough unit All our runs arc over
400 feet and serve up to 60 bulls We
chose Cornell because of its reputation
for heavy-duty performance
That first unit is still working r c “„“ Mig”” ~ P 7lfs” ~ "
as hard as ever, and we’ve ! 80,1 i* • 2 • uceyviu* pa 18623
added three more over the “I'n'k",
years In 18 years with ijm < farmer siud^m
Cornell Barn Cleaners, J Name
we’ve never replaced Adillt-VS
a single part ” j^(nv
Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
emu ms wife cuung with
several children could till
the land, care for the
livestock, produce most of
their own needs, and sur
vive with little or no hard
money income. The
necessities of life that could
not be grown on the farm
were bartered for with
eggs, chickens, and canned
goods. Those things that
could only be purchased
most generally were done
without.
Such units survived
depressions, recessions,
vtarld wars, stock market
Qjrashes and other
phenomena, and when pro
sperity finally did come to
agriculture in the post-
World War II period, they
were ready and willing to
share in it.
- As horses were replaced
with small tractors and
then with bigger tractors,
and as thrashing machines
yielded to combines, small
family farms began to
grow. Retiring farmers
were bought out by their
neighbors and farmers com
peted against each other for
rental acres.
During the “hard times”
period of American
agriculture, when there was
little or no money and plen
ty of backbreaking labor,
most kids who grew up on a
family farm quickly moved
on to something else. But
then with mechanization
and prosperity, the family
farm became a more at
tractive alternative for
farm-reared youngsters
So, family farms grew as
iiioi e and more family
members became part of
the business. Through all
that, the out-migration from
agriculture continued. The
masses of farm workers
from the horse and hand
labor agriculture of the turn
of the century yielded a lot
of people to urban employ
ment at mechanization and
other progress became ac
cepted.
Believe it or not, fanners
were slow to adopt much of
the new fangled labor
saving ways' First of all
because they had no money
and the new machines were
quite expensive, and
secondly because the had
plenty of family labor. Why
buy a tractor when you had
plenty of horses and plenty
of kids to handle them 7
But eventually farmers
did replace the horses and
the tractors got bigger and
better, and the family
farmer who started farming
on 80 acres back in the thir
ties now tilled several hun
dred acres, maybe even
several thousand, with no
more than one or two
helpers.
. So the family farm as
recalled from the 1930 s is
gone. lake many other in
stitutions of that period, it
adjusted or died.
Today’s family farm is
larger, better equipped, and
better financed even though
it still operates mostly on
family labor. But that may
not be enough to keep it go
ing in the decade ahead,
considering the tremedous
economic pressure that is
being exerted.
What family farmer can
pay a million dollars for a
moderate sized farm,
$lOO,OOO for a combine, or
$50,000 for a tractor 7
What family farmer can
continue to bring his offspr
ing into the business to
assure continuity and con
tinued growth 7
Frank Relchard. Barn Manager
Atlantic Breeders Cooperative
Lancaster. FA
mt **£th3r
Send for this
FREE folder
today)
»mu
Slrfit'
There are many who con
sider the family farmer an
endangered species and
who are plotting ways to
preserve its existence.
Some of those ways are ex
treme, ill-conceived and
probably unconstitutional,
but they do point toward a
very basic premise in
American agnculture-the
importance of the family
farm and its preservation.
Does your money
" work hard for
* INTEREST IS COMPOUNDED DAILY
You Always Get More For Your Money At
Fsi:ic
First Federal
SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION OF LANCASTER
23 East King Street, Lancaster Phone 393-0601
• 69 E Mam Street Lititz
Phone 626 0251
• East Towne Mall
Phone 393 0488
• 24 E Mam St. Mount Joy
Phone 653 8121
Do we truly believe in this
and if so, what can we do to
assure its continuance?
you?
If Not One Of Our
Savings Plans Could Be
Your SOLUTION...
WE OFFER:
PASSBOOK ACCOUNTS*
CERTIFICATES OF
DEPOSIT*
30 MONTH SPECIAL
CERTIFICATES*
JEJi
inr
• 335 Fifth St, Quarryville • 100 E Mam St, New Holland
Phone 786 1010 Phone 354 4427
• Park City Center, Lancaster
(In Sears Mall)
Phone 299 3745
• 519 A LeamanAve , Millersville
Phone 872 4665
These are big questions
that will be debated at
great length in the years
ahead.
PON THE BALANCED Wtr
MONEY MARKET
CERTIFICATES
$)))
&
HUtt HOUSM
LENDER
«D*