Milford chronicle., 1956-12-07
FAMILY FARMS ARE NOT ON
THE WAY OUT

Farming, its problems, and its evolution
have long been subjects of wide and some
times frenzied discussion. And some of the
talk not only generates more heat than light
but leads to serious misconceptions and mis-
representations.
Take, for instance the argument that the
family farm is on the way out and, unless
drastic steps are taken, will soon be only a
memory.
That argument was factually answered in
mid-September by Acting Secretary of Agri-
culture True d. Morse His statement is bas-
ed on an analysis of information from the
last Census of Agriculture-and here are
some of the facts produced.
The proportion of family farms to the
total number of farms in the u. 5. has held
steady in recent years. There has been no
change in the total number of farms oper-
ated by families in the last Is years.
Ia a late year, family-operated farms
comprised about 81 per cent of all our farms,
leaving only about three per cent for the
large-scale farms. The percentage of farmers
who were full or part owners of the land they
worked stood at rs per cent-an all-time rec
ord high. Farm tenancy, by contrast, was at
a record low.
Increasing mechanization allows family
farms to operate with less hired labor than in
the past-and also permits family farms of
greater acreage. As Mr.. Morse puts it, "au-
thorities generally agree that the family
farm will continue to dominate American
agriculture. The family farm is not only
being preserved but strengthened. About
z out of 10 farmers have no mortgage debt.
Farm foreclosures are near record low"
And he points to various Department of
Agriculture programs designed to further
strengthen family farming, including in
creased research, new authority for credit,
increased budgets for conservation work, and
the soil bank.
In this connection some statements made
in Secretary of Agriculture Benson's new
book are apt indeed. The book, Farmers at
the Crossroads" has been published by the
Devin-Adair Company, and goes deeply into
the agricultural situation, both historically
and currently. Mr.. Benson denies that high
farm incomes of the 1940's were due TO high
price supports-inStead, he says, they were
due to ''the Unsuitable demands of war and
wartime infation." And he characterizes as
an even more serious fallacy the claim that
high price supports can hold UP farm income
even though surpluses accumulate. He writes:
"In every year but one from 1947 through
1855, farm income declined in all these
years. until mid-1955, high-priced supports
were on the statute books and completely in
effect"
Moreover, the Secretary demolishes the
idea that high supports are of benefit to the
family-sized farm. Only "a per cent of farm
income is,derived from the six basic commod-
tiles which have been supported at 80 per
cent of parity. Most of the SO billion the
government has invested in price supports
operations is in three of these commodities
wheat, corn, and cotton So, Mr. Benson
writes, g. the diversified family-sized
farms have had precious little help from the
old program Instead, government help has
gone mainly to big volume, specialized, low
cost producers-to the big business of agri-
oIllfr