C2-Uncaster Farming, Saturday November 24,1984
What is a family farm?
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - “Save
the family farm” was just one of
the political polemics heard during
this year’s presidential campaign.
While everyone is for saving the
“family farm,” nobody can agree
on its definition, according to
agricultural economists at The
University of Maryland.
“Politicians say apple pie,
motherhood and family farms are
good,” Dr. Billy V. Lessley says.
“But today’s definition of the
family farm differs from
yesterday’s.”
The grandparents of today’s
farmer may have owned less than
100 acres and called it the “family
farm,” according to Lessley.
Children and grandchildren
added to that base and now own or
rent maybe 10 times more land
than their ancestors, Dr. John W.
Wysongadds.
“A Family farm today to a lot
bigger than it was even 20 years
ago,” Wysong says.
“Mechanization has made it
possible for basically the same
number of people to run a much
Hort session
slated Dec. 6
SALISBURY, Md. - The fruit
and vegetable session of the
Peninsula Horticultural Society
will take place Thursday, Dec. 6,
from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the
Wicomico Youth and Civic Center
in Salisbury, Md.
The morning program will
feature an update on farm labor
legislation, quality in marketing
produce, a panel presentation on
marketing strategies, and a
business meeting.
The afternoon half of the
program will consist of two
simultaneous sessions, one on
sweet corn production and the
other on strawberries. The sweet
com group will hear presentations
on varieties and scheduling
planting, a sweet com pest
management program, and
cultural and marketing con
siderations of which growers
should be aware. Strawberry
producers will hear talks on a
herbicide program, varieties for
Delmarva, and “Everything Else
You Wanted to Know About
Strawberries.”
For further information, contact
county extension agents in
Delaware or Eastern Shore
Maryland and Virginia.
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larger operation.”
Since 1940, there has been little
change in the total amount of
acreage used for farming in
Maryland and across the country,
Wysong says. But the trend is
toward fewer and larger farms.
During the last 20 years, the
number of Maryland farms has
dropped by 9,000, but the average
size is up from 138 acres in 1960 to
150 in 1983, according to the
Maryland Department of
Agriculture. The growing
Baltimore and Washington
metropolitan areas have con
tributed to the decline in acreage
of Maryland farms, economists
say.
A lode at national figures gives a
more realistic view of what
Lessley and Wysong are talking
about. Since 1975 the general
definition of a farm is a place that
sells or normally would sell at least
$l,OOO worth of agricultural
produce.
In 1960, the average U.S. farm
was 297 acres. Last year the
national average was 437 acres
with 141,000 acres less in the total
fanning plan. There are 1.5 million
less farms now than in 1960, ac
cording to Maryland and USDA
statistics.
Lessley says campaigning on the
idea of protecting the “family”
farm goes back to the Lydon
Johnson Administration. However,
Lessley and others are not sure the
government’s idea of the family
farm has evolved as high finance
and mechanization changed the
industry.
Smaller operations are being
replaced by farmers, who can
afford to use large, high efficiency
equipment and buy materials in
bulk quantities, the Unversity
economists conclude.
But politics has a way of
changing what we see, Lessley
says. Campaigners often look at
the history of independent
agriculture in American and see no
reason why it can not continue in
similar fashion.
Wood
& Cool
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SHENANDOAH INCINERATORS - A SANITARY
ALTERNATIVE FOR ON FARM DISPOSAL
The sanitary way to get rid
of animal carcasses is with
a Shenandoah incinerator.
It’s pollution controlled and
convenient to use. It’s also
extra efficient because
we’ve lined the burning
chambers, and in some
models even the af
terburning chambers, with
one and a quarter inches of
refractory cement. That
keeps the heat up and the
energy costs down.
COMPLETE SYSTEMS. EQUIPMENT, SALES, INSTALLATION,
STORE
HOURS:
Mon.-Frt.
7:30 to 4:30
Sat.
7:30 to 11:30
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