586 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



"4. Farmers pay more than land is worth to farm if they are buying 

 it for a home. 



"5. A higher per cent now probably find it necessary to provide 

 sons with farms. 



"6. One reason for land advancing in price is the decreasing per- 

 centage of waste land to total farm area. 



"7. Due to soil, climatic conditions and diversified farming, there 

 are not any complete crop failures in Iowa. 



"8. Farm buildings at present are built more for permanency and 

 convenience and add to the value of land." 



III. Agencies to promote farm ownership. 



Unusual activity in buying and selling farm lands increase the un- 

 certainty of renter's tenure on the same farm and increase the difficulty 

 of becoming farm owners. 



Uncertainty of tenure prevents the renter planning ahead. He must 

 be ready to move and cannot afford to be handicapped by having much 

 live stock or feed and supplies on hand at moving time. The only thing 

 the renter is certain of is the present, so he exploits the farm for present 

 returns in his efforts to make up for lost opportunities in not being able 

 to plan ahead. 



In 1919 the increase in the value of an average Iowa farm was con- 

 siderably more than the average renter's savings for the same period. 

 At the beginning of the year, the renter was nearer ownership than at 

 the end of the year. Postponing ownership is another way of expressing 

 increase in farm tenancy. The danger lies in postponing ownership so 

 late in life that a renter will lose hope, "give up" and not try to become 

 a farm owner. 



The ideal land tenure is each farmer tilling his soil. Farm op- 

 erators, however, are of all ages. The boy who hopes to be an owner 

 of an Iowa farm should climb the agricultural ladder. It is to his interest 

 to do so and also to the interest of society. As he acquires experience and 

 capital, he climbs the ladder from farm hand to renter and from renter 

 to owner. 



The two essentials needed in acquiring ownership, in a reasonable 

 time, are supervision and capital. The state is performing an important 

 service if it furnishes and develops agencies which supply these essentials. 



During the past generation the significance of farm ownership has 

 changed. Twenty-five years ago the Iowa farm owner and his family 

 were forced to work long hours to make a comfortable living. Today the 

 use of his farm capital gives him an income in the form of rent for 

 which he and his family do not work. 



Profitable Iowa farms require an average investment of more than 

 $40,000. Average renters in two Iowa counties last year had a net' worth 

 of over $11,000. They may be termed financially independent, yet they 

 were a long way off from owning an average Iowa farm. 



It is folly to expect renters to become owners as early in life now 

 as was the case a generation ago. Yet if ownership is postponed at the 

 same rate that farm lands increase in value, most of the farms will be 



