Soybeans have become as popular a crop as corn, and farm acres are usually divided between corn and soybeans, with some pasture. Livestock is no longer found on every farm. In 1910, the average corn yield was 27 bushels per acre with an average price of 52 cents a bushel. Yields of 200 bushels or more per acre are common. Farming has changed in the last 90 years, something Mr. Hadley said everyone should be grateful for.
Convenience is one thing.
The amount farmers can produce is another. It would be impossible for farmers to produce the amount of food needed to feed the world's population without the use of large tractors and the powerful combines that revolutionized harvests when they were introduced in the 1940s. The internal combustion engine which powered the automobile, tractor and later the combine also contributed to the decline in the number of farmers. Fewer people were needed on the farm to maintain operation. Today, instead of making up more than 30 percent of the population as the did then, now only about 2 percent of the U.S. population live on farms.