Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-11-05
Value of Family
Living on Farm
Some Important Factors in
Stability and Safety of
Rural Life.
prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture.)

prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture.)
An important factor in the stability
and safety of the farming business
and Of rural life exists in the housing
facilities, and the fuel and food re-
ceived from the home farm by the
farmer and his family in connection
with the operation of the farm, says
the United States Department of Ag-
riculture. This observation is made
In Analysing farm business surveys
conducted during the years 1918 to
1922, inclusive, covering 7,738 farms
situated in 80 localities in 81 states.
These farms represent varying types
of agriculture and are operated under
different topographic, soil, climatic,
and marketing conditions. They COM
prise dairy farms in New England and
Wisconsin, cotton plantations of the
southern states, citrus groves and
early truck farms Of Florida, orchards
Of the Shenandoah valley in Virginia
and near Niagara Falls in New York,
grain and live stock farms of the corn
belt, grain farms and grazing in the
Great Plains region, extensive wheat
farms in the Palouse country of Idaho
and Washington and in northern Ore
gon, and farms under irrigation In the
West and Northwest.
Six Vital Items.
Six items constituted 90 per cent OF
the value Of the family living from
the farm, namely: house rent, fuel
dairy products, poultry and eggs, pork
and lard, and fruit and vegetables
Food made up 81 per cent of the fam
lily living from the farm, and house
rent and fuel SO per cent and 8 pei
cent, respectively. The COW, the hog
and the hen ranked in the order named
in their contributions to the family
larder, while pork stood first among
the meats consumed.
Some commodities entering into the
family living from the farm, such as
small potatoes, and overripe or under.
sized fruits, frequently have little OF
no market value, and garden vegeta-
bles in many localities cannot be mar
keted. Their use by the farmers fam
lily does not materially reduce the cash
income. On the other hand, the farm
home requires liberal quantities OF
such products as butter, eggs. and
hogs. These commodities usually
have a ready sale, and their utiliza-
ton by the farmers family, to an ap-
preciable degree flattens the farm
purse. This use of marketable farm
products is not extra vagance but rath.
er economy, for were the farmer
obliged to buy these supplies or 9TH
ers in their stead at city retail prices
he would often have to pay approx
mately double the farm price.
The value of the family living from
the farm as compared with the farm
income varies with the change in price
levels of agricultural commodities. In
1913 and 1919 the value of the fam
lily living from the farm was only
about one-f1fth as much as the farm
income, but in 1921 and 1922, because
of decrease in the prices Of farm
products, it had increased to one-third
as much as the farm income.
Value of Family Living.
The value Of the family living from
the farm ranged from nothing to over
$1,000. This variation was found
among families in the same locality
with a somewhat less variation among
different localities. Even in localities
where the farmer concentrated upon
nonfood crops, such as cotton, the
farm contributed directly to the food
requirements Of his family, through
crop and animal side lines Where di-
versified farming was practiced, the
pantry of tne farm home was supplied
with an abundance Of homegrown
food.
The value Of the family living from
the farm on about 70 per cent of the
farms varied from 5000 to $500. In a
few. localities the farm income aver.
aged less than $1,000 per farm, even
in the palmy years of 1913 and 1919
In others the average for that period
exceeded $4,000. The average size OF
the farms ranged from less than 1OC
acres in some sections to more than
1000 acres in others.
The value of the family living from
the farm is, OF course, more constant
than the farm income, as the farm
er's family have first call upon food
supplies whether abundant or short
In the interest of a stable agriculture
IL is imperative that the farm provide
not only adequate housing facilities
and some fuel, but also an abundance
of food for the farmers family. TIC
this end, a wise Investigation of pro
duction is indispensable.