itor Farming, Saturday, Dtcambar 29,19*4
826-Uikm<
If you are not a full-fledged
optimist about the future of far
ming in general and dairying in
particular, you might as well retire
next week. The business of far
ming demands a bright outlook, or
it is doomed to failure.; j let’s try
to see if there is anything to lift our
spirits in 1985.
For one thing, we are not
operating in an over-crowded field
of employment. Farmers are now
in one of the smallest minority
population groups ever known in
history. We are now LESS THAN
THREE PERCENT of the total
population of the country. And we
number only about THREE
TENTHS OF ONE PERCENT of
all the farmers in the world. Yet
we produce 64 percent of the
world’s soybeans, 56 percent of the
grapefruit, 46 percent of the corn,
31 percent of the sorghum, 23
percent of the cotton, 18 percent of
the wheat, 14 percent of the eggs,
and 13 percent of all the pork.
Fifty years ago, one American
farm worker produced enough food
for 10 people. Twenty years ago, he
produced enough to feed 31 people.
Ten years ago, it was enough for 56
people. Today, one farm worker
produces enough to feed nearly 80
people! And the total farm work
force involved includes all those
unpaid or underpaid family
workers as well as the full time
paid farm workers! It either
makes you swell with pride, or
want to cry.
Our efficiency is due partly to
hard work. But it is really more the
result of very high investment in
modem technology. It now seems
that the only way we can sustain
that growth and productivity is to
keep on investing more and more
capital in even more refined and
advanced mechanical, electronic,
chemical and managerial know
how. All we need to continue the
trend is the assurance or hope of a
reasonable return on our in
vestment. And, of course, a good,
sound source of capital without
risking our very neck to finance
the deal. It will take a lot of
delicate fine-tuning of our
managing ability to make it work.
The Trouble
With Efficiency
Maybe we have overdone this
efficiency thing a little bit. The
trouble with maximum production
is that it always creates a little
surplus that immediately
depresses the price in the market
place. So, efficiency of production
creates a self-sustaining cycle of
overproduction because
agriculture depends on a con
tinuing biological growth that can’t
be stopped in midair. Animals
must continue to eat, cows con
tinue to give milk, and planted
crops keep right on growing.
Even a bank loan becomes like a
pregnant cow. It immediately
develops a need to continue the
gestation until the fetal loan is
paid, and also requires constant
feeding with fresh and expensive
interest. To terminate any kind of
pregnancy can be unhealthy, to
say the least! So even a pregnant
loan should be made with the idea
of a profitable offspring. Talk that
one over with your banker!
Ideas Will Be
The Tools Of
The Future
We must approach the next
couple of years with imagination
as well as optimism. Agricultural
research, Agricultural Extension,
and ag industry will keep right on
pumping up our productivity,-
barring any road blocks thrown in
by nature or politicians.
But the most exciting prospects
el©'
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at \ ' Bl it v ' v »V-
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$259.95 yWWMtWV
I
for success and security lie in the
imaginative brain power of farm
leaders. Ideas, fresh and new, on
every part of farming, will be the
farm tools of the future. They will
go far, beyond the production
process, into advertising,
promotion, new products and new
uses for farm products, and some
regulation of supplies, to avoid
depressed prices.
We’ll never avoid all of the risks
Ret
• l’x3’ .... $29.00 .
• l'x4' .... C 36.30 .
• 2 x3’ .... $50.80 .
• 2’x4’ .... $61.70 .
• 16’’x24" . $27.95 .
TRUCKLOAD SALE
CAMBRIDGE
HEATERS
40,000 BTU.LP Gas
Heater w/Thermostat
GSI STEEL UTILITY BUILDING
izes Available:
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•10’x30’ •12’x30’ •14’x30’
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• v
MONO-FLO & ALKE '
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NEEDS NO ELECTRICITY
This new livestock waterer
Keeps water from freezing
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or thawing frozen lines
•More reliable and cheaper to operate
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5169.95
Sturdy Polyethylene
Construction
involved in fanning, but since we
are already in a very small
minority group, the rest of the
population does owe some con
sideration to our survival. The
brightest hope for the future is the
knowledge that farmers and fann
workers are an elite group of
people that all the rest can’t live
without. Keep that in mind for a
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sure-Flo
Available In All Galvanized
Or Deluxe White
Af<
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♦
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