Peacetime adjustments in farming : possibilities under prosperity conditions. Page: 1
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PEACETIME ADJUSTMENTS IN FARMING
I. BACKGROUNDFarmers in the United States have rounded out
4 years of full-scale production for war. The adjustments-some
good, some bad-that were necessary
to achieve wartime levels of agricultural production
have been felt with increasing force in each
succeeding year. In many instances they have resulted
in wide differences from prewar systems of
farming-differences both in the emphasis given to
certain farm enterprises and in the production practices
involved. They have often added to the physical
burden of farmers and farm workers. It is time
to consider the meaning for postwar years of these
war-induced changes
What will be needed to develop an optimum level
of soil fertility; and, once developed, to maintain the
physical resource upon .which the agriculture is
based? How can farms be organized and operated
to achieve high and stable farm incomes, and satisfactory
levels of living? What guides can be developed
that will indicate the kinds of adjustments it
would pay farmers to make in achieving these objectives?
How many farms and how many farm
workers will agriculture need? Consideration of
these questions can best be visualized in terms, not
of next year, but of a somewhat longer look ahead-a
look beyond the period of transition, to a time when
farms can be operated in an economy of peace.
Such looks ahead are admittedly difficult and, in.
fact, impossible except in terms of specific assumptions
regarding conditions that could then prevail.
The results of such work are in no sense forecasts of
what will come to pass, but by indicating what it
would pay farmers to do under the assumed conditions
they serve as postwar bench marks-reference
points, indicating the direction and general extent of
needed adjustments for intervening years. As such,
they have value for shaping educational and operations
programs for the years ahead. Achievement of
the bench marks summarized in this report involves
more rapid adoption of improved practices than our
previous progress in peacetime. If adoption of improvements
is not accelerated the bench-mark levels
will not be attained.
During 1944, Production Adjustment Committees
in each State studied these and other problems relating
to agriculture after the war and prepared
State reports, which are here summarized on a national
basis. The Production Adjustment Committee
in each State is composed of technical workers in
the land-grant colleges-men trained in the sciences
of crop and livestock production and those familiar
with the organization and operation of the farm
business-together with State representatives of
Federal agencies interested in agriculture.During the war years, these committees have provided,
annually, production information that has
been used in developing the Nation's agricultural
goals of the year ahead and in planning for their
attainment. They are familiar with the technological
advances that have been made in crop and livestock
production in recent years-with improved
varieties of crops that provide higher yields and
greater resistance to disease, with new methods of
controlling crop pests and livestock diseases, with
the possibilities in fertilizing crops and in feeding
livestock more efficiently. With this background,
these committees are well qualified to appraise the
efficiency of current agricultural production and to
indicate the adjustments it would pay farmers to
make under specified postwar conditions.
Obviously, adjustments called for under conditions
of continuing prosperity would differ from
those which it would pay farmers to make if the
situation were considerably less favorable. It would
be desirable, therefore, to explore the alternatives
open to American farmers under more than one set
of assumptions. Some State Committees have done
that as a part of this study. The results are given
later in this report. But interest in all sectors of
our economy-in industry as well as in agriculturecenters
currently in the problem of maintaining full
employment and continued prosperity and what this
would mean in terms of national production and
consumption. Consequently, major emphasis in these
studies has been placed on developing a picture of
agriculture under prosperity conditions and all
States have reported on this basis for the postwar
bench-mark estimates summarized in this report.
Each State Production Adjustment Committee
was provided with the same framework of assumptions,
to promote uniformity in approach to the
study. It is obvious, in an undertaking of this character,
that the basis upon which estimates are made
will vary from State to State. Statistical data on
acres of crops, numbers of livestock, and production
of crop and livestock products are always available
by States and this information can usually be analyzed
for smaller areas having similar production
problems and opportunities. Satisfactory information
on the current degree of adoption of specific
production practices and on the limits to which they
could profitably be extended are everywhere more
difficult to obtain. Furthermore, the background of
production specialists, who are members of the
State Production Adjustment Committees, influences
the contribution they are able to make in estimating
future possibilities. In States where crops are customarily
fertilized, agronomists are more fully awareI
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United States. Department of Agriculture. Interbureau Committee on Postwar Programs. Peacetime adjustments in farming : possibilities under prosperity conditions., book, December 1945; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6228/m1/4/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.