This and other improved methods of farm operation may enable him to maintain an average standard of living, where otherwise, he would be faced with severe poverty. The farmer must make use of labor saving machinery in order to reduce the cost of production. Improved methods are as important in his farming program as improved varieties of crops or improved breeds of livestock, or higher prices for his products. We usually think of the one-horse farmer as being a farmer who is slow to adopt better methods of doing things on the farm. The old one-horse farmer cannot compete with the machine age.
Machinery costs less to operate than man power.
Manpower is the highest priced labor on the farm. Brain power is the most valuable power on the farm. Photo courtesy of Marie Stanford. An early logging operation in the Shady Hill community. Isaiah Zimmerle on horse and Floyd Buck on logs.