New Britain herald., 1930-10-24

Washington, Oct. A (P - Acom- bination of fewer farms and in,
 creased production has indicated tc
 census officials definite trend to,
 ward larger farm units. 1 With reports still incomplete from Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico California, Iowa and Michigan, the census shows a net loss Of 233,o ; farms for the entire United States
 For the most part losses arc group l eG in the older farm regions of the 1 east, south and midwest where mod,
 ern large scale farming has caused l buying-in of smaller farms in the { interest of more economical produc-
 tion.
 Remote regions not reached by
 good roads, telephone or electric
 service, or where modern machinery
 is not adaptable, have seen an out right abandonment of land. That situation is particularly mo- tiCeable in Georgia and South Caro- | lima, and to a lesser degree in New York, Pennsylvania. Virginia, Ken
 lucky and southern parts of Ohio,
 Indiana and Illinois.
 Readjustment has worked from | the other end in such states as Ok | lahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi, where increase in number of farms
 suggests the breaking up of huge,
 half cultivated holdings. With the exception of Idaho and | Montana. the west-birt hplace of ! corporation farming-shows an
 increase in the number of individual 1 farms.
 The great grain region embracing | Kansas. Nebraska and South Da- liota, which is most truly represen- tative of conditions favorable 10 corporate operation of vast acreage, likewise is most truly representative of the swing toward more farm | units.
 Broadly, the agricultural census appears to reveal a movement to- ward the alternative between the small family farm too circumscribed for efficient operation, and the cor poration farm of several thousand acres.
 Declaring that the agricultural 1 organization Of the future need not be limited 10 a choice between the two extremes, the Chamber of Com merce of the United States says a good middle ground would be a system of farms three or four times the present average size, but still | operated by family labor. A second alternative. 1t says, would be group management of in- dividually owned farms. Chairman Legge of the farm beard is champion of the latter sug- gestion, particularly in areas devoted primarily to the production of ma- jor crops. Advocating the consoli- dation of unprofitable wheat farms into larger units, the chairman suggests cooperative production rather than dispossession of the small and owner.
 Studies indicate that the time is past when wheat can be grown profitably on small acreage,' he says, "and that there will have to be a readjustment in the size of the farm unit where wheat is depended upon as cash crop.'
 The grouping of farms, he says would facilitate bank loans in that it would make one borrower a good credit risk whereas there now may be two or three bad ones.
 The census has been looked for ward to as an appraisal of advan- tages as between the family farm and tho corporation farm. While large scale farming is we'll estab- lished, moro than 5000 corporations engaged in farming in 1926 repre- sented only six per cent of the total gross income of American agricul ture.
 In a survey of large scale farm ing, the Chamber of Commerce says corporation farming still is a negli- gible factor in the social organiza- tion of rural communities. It's growth probably will be slow. It is doubtful whether corporations -oper- ated farms ever will encroach seri- ously upon the small units.
 Extensive development of large scale farming. the chamber says, would be hampered by the difficulty O. obtaining land in workable units. Many of tho large farms now oper- ating owe their existence 10 special conditions which do not hold for most farms.
 Taken as a group, the chamber says, large scale farms apparently have been no more, no any less, successful than the average of the family sized farms.
 Tt appears then" the chamber says, that mere incorporation or organization of farming enterprises OF large scale will not auto matically solve the problems of the agricultural industry. In order to (secure greater net returns than are secured form the family type of farming, large scale farms must achieve an efficiency considerably greater than the average of such farms now in operation" While there has been a net de- crease in the number of farms in the United States and all states thus far reporting shows losses in some counties. not every state showed a net decrease.
 Those in which losses by coun- ties exceeded gains included New