The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1926-09-03
Making Success
Of Whole Farm
Balanced Farming Is Secret
of Continuous High
Crop Profits.

the IhFiI DuStHeSS COUNTS lItttc lOWdFu
the success Of the whole farm If
profits are lost on some other enter
prise, HI. G. NJ. Case, in charge of the
farm organization and management
department, college OF agriculture,
University Of Illinois, points out. If
the greatest continuous profit is to
be secured from the farm, many
things must be well done and a sys-
tenn OF balanced farming based on
good farm management must be fol-
lowed, he added.
A well-balanced farm requires that
first there be good plan of the farm
business, or In other words, that the
farm, be well organized. In the sec
ond place, the farm must be operated
successfully from day to day. The
study of individual farms convinces
one that many men are so planning
and operating their farms that they
are uniformly more profitable than
other farms in the same community.
Our question then is, What principles
are followed on these farms which
make for profitable farming?
Success. of Any System.
In the first place, the success Of
any system of farming depends upon
the crops which the land will grow,
whether the products are sold d.
rectly or fed to live stock. The object
to be sought in the cropping system
is first to select those crops which
will maintain or improve the soil and
produce good yields of profitable
crop and then secure combination
of crops which will provide for the
efficient use of man labor, horse labor
and equipment. The value Of any
crop or combination of crops Is de-
termined not by the value of the
total production but by the net value
above the cost of production. Our in
vestigations indicate that after man
has once selected good cropping
system little is to be gained from
changing that crop rotation as prices
change. The adjustment of the farm
ing system to price conditions can
best be obtained at another point.
One of the first essentials Of a
good farming system, then, is field
system which makes it easy to fol-
low a definite rotation and provide
about the same distribution of crop
labor each year in order to use both
man labor, horse labor and equip
ment to the best advantage. There
is wide latitude as to the cropping
system which may be employed How
ever, usually the cropping plan will
provide for four to six-year rotation.
Some thought should be given to a
selection of the rotation which will
give as high percentage of high
profit crops as possible. We have,
then. in planning the rotation, these
points to keep In mind: well de-
veloped field system, productive soil,
a selection Of high profit crops and
good distribution of labor, power and
use Of equipment throughout the
growing season.
Live Stock Plan Important.
The planning of the live stock to be
handled on the farm is equally i'm
portant and should be considered
especially in planning for the use of
available labor and equipment. Live
stock frequently fits in with the crops
to distribute the productive labor
throughout the entire season. Cost in
vestigations indicate that there Is
more latitude in choosing the amount
of live stock to be produced from
year to year. This is the point where
the farmer can take advantage Of
price conditions. The man who has a
well diversified farm system, includ-
ing a good high-profit crop combina-
ton and productive live stock, has
more, flexibility in his farming plan
than the man who plans to sell only
certain live stock products. The
farmer in the corn belt has more
latitude in choosing his farm plan
than farmers in most sections Of the
country.
The man who follows well DIVERSE
fed farming system may feed more or
less of his. crops to live stock, de-
pending upon whether crop products
or live stock products are in best de-
mand on the market. No section Of the
country offers "a better opportunity Of
studying. the most profitable system Of
farming and Of choosing those sys-
TENS and adjusting production from
year to year In a way which will
o~oxyM v,vrsAkahlo, khro,,sh a portod ~
years.