I 



Good Demand for Farms 



Say Land Bank Chiefs 



Improved loan collections, growing de- 

 mand for farm land, and the highest cash 

 farm income since 1930 was reported by 

 12 Federal Land Bank presidents who 

 met recently in Washington. 



"Although the prices of some com- 

 modities leave much to be desired, in the 

 main there is a satisfactory price out- 

 look, an active retail sales trade, and a 

 sounder farm credit position, giving real 

 proof of the general improvement in the 

 farmer's financial condition," Albert S. 

 Goss, Land Bank Commissioner of the 

 Farm Credit Administration, said. 



"In six of the Land Bank districts 

 not badly affected by the drought, more 

 than 90 per cent of matured installments 

 on Commissioner's loans had been paid 

 up to September 1, and the average for 

 the country as a whole was 82 per cent. 



"Most applications for mortgage loans 

 are coming from farmers who desire to 

 refinance at the lower rate of four per 

 cent now available on new loans from 

 the Federal Land Banks," he said. "Some 

 farmers are applying for loans to pur- 

 chase farms." 



The Cover 



The eight-horse team of Percherons 

 pulling « three - bottom tractor plow 

 shown on the front cover is owned by 

 William "Bill" Freitag, Farm Bureau 

 member of Tazewell county. 



Freitag uses horses exclusively in op- 

 erating his large farm, and the foals 

 from his purebred mares are an impor- 

 tant source of farm income. Last year 

 he sold four head averaging one year 

 old for $1,000, an average of $250 each. 



Asked about the hot weather last year 

 Bill said: "We always get our work done 

 and we have not lost any horses from 

 over-heating." 



Private Loans on Land 



Now Exceed Federal Loans 



Life insurance companies loaned more 

 than $37,000,000 the first half of this 

 year on farm mortgages — an increase of 

 83 per cent over the first half of 1934. 

 Commercial banks increased their farm 

 loans to $88,000,000 — a gain of 57 per 

 cent. Individuals loaned $141,000,000 — a 

 gain of 22 per cent, and all other private 

 creditors $39,000,000 or a decrease of 

 22 per cent. 



For the first time since 1933 private 

 creditors loaned more on farm mortgages 

 than the federal government, $306,000,000 

 by private creditors against $277,000,000 

 by the Federal Land Banks and Land 

 Bank Commissioner. 



C.-«-^l 





SECOND PLACE IS NOT SO BAD ANYWAY 



Western Illinois champions from Henry County are: Front row left to right: — S. Andertea, 

 H. Olson, C. Johnson, R. Olson, K. Johnson. 



Back row left to right: L Gustafson, F. Samue Ison. C. Manning, W. Anderson, manager, La* 

 Manning, H. Robson. Team members absent: B. Stephens, K. Stephens, Glenn Johnston, D. " 

 kett, Robert Kirk, M. Angevine. 



President Roosevelt For 



One-Contract Per Farm 



President Roosevelt gave his unquali- 

 fied endorsement to a long-time "more 

 permanent" crop adjustment program 

 working toward "simplification, increased 

 flexibility, and the objective of one con- 

 tract per farm," at a press conference in 

 Washington October 25. 



"It never was the idea of the men who 

 framed the act, of those in congress who 

 revised it, nor of Henry - Wallace nor 

 Chester Davis that the Agricultural Ad- 

 justment Administration should be either 

 a mere emergency operation or a static 

 agency," he said. 



"It was their intention — as it is mine — 

 to pass from the purely emergency phases 

 necessitated by a grave national crisis to 

 a long-time, more permanent plan for 

 American agriculture. 



"Such a long-time program is develop- 

 ing naturally out of the present adjust- 

 ment efforts. As I see it, this program 

 has two principal objectives: 



"First, to carry out the declared policy 

 of congress to maintain and increase the 

 gains thus far made, thereby avoiding 

 the danger of a slump back into the con- 

 ditions brought about by our national 

 neglect of agriculture. 



"Second, to l>roaden present adjustment 

 operations so ^s to give farmers increas- 

 ing incentives for conservation and effi- 

 cient use of the nation's soil resources. 



"Simplification of present programs, 

 with a view to increased flexibility, would 

 readily lend itself to the broad objectives 

 outlined. Decentralization of machinery 

 to get more efficient administration closer 

 to the farmers already has begun and 

 will be vigorously continued. To simplify 

 administration, the AAA will work to- 

 ward the objective of one contract per 

 farm. The modifications planned, in ad- 

 dition to making administration easier, 

 will facilitate production adjustment 

 either upward or downward. 



"The time may come when the AAA 



Four Year Rye Program 



Is Ready for Producers 



A four-year crop adjustment program 

 for rye running from 1936 to 1939 ex- 

 clusive was recently approved by Secre- 

 tary Wallace. 



Under the contract farmers will re- 

 ceive adjustment payments in considera- 

 tion for reducing acreage of grain har- 

 vested to 75 per cent of their average 

 past acreage. The 75 per cent is subject 

 to an upward increase in any year. Pay- 

 ments for the 1936 crop are to be at least 

 35 cents a bushel on each producer's 

 farm allotment, which will be .30 i>er 

 cent of his average annual production. 



Adjustment payments to signers are 

 to equal the difference between the aT- 

 erage farm price and the fair exchange 

 value of rye if this difference is not more 

 than 35 cents a bushel. 



will prove as important in stimulating 

 certain kinds of production as it has been 

 in removing recent burdensome surpluses. 

 For example, an expanded production of 

 hogs, to replace shortages caused by 

 drought, is contemplated under the pro- 

 posed new corn-hog program, which is 

 put up to a decision of producers in a 

 nation-wide referendum tomorrow. . . . 

 "The simplified and more flexible ad- 

 justment program of the future can be 

 made to serve the permanent advantage 

 of producer and consumer. It can iron 

 out the succession of extreme market 

 gluts and extreme shortage* which in the 

 past have alternately wrecked farm in- 

 come and penalized city people with too 

 high prices. It can protect the nation's 

 heritage of soil, help farmers to produce 

 up to the full possibilities of profitable 

 export, and give this country the safest 

 possible assurance of abundant food in 

 the years to come. I can think of noth- 

 ing more important to the permanent 

 welfare of the nation than long-time ag- 

 ricultural adjustment carried out along 

 these lines." 



NOVEMBER, 1935 



