ALL IN A HUDDLE— GRUNDY COUNTY FARM BUREAU OFFICE 

 Left to right — Anna Peterjon, secretary of the Grundy County Agricultural Soil Conterva- 

 t!on Asiociatlon; Chester A. Hunt, K^orris; and J. Francis Buck, president of the Association. 



farm owner remarked facetiously: 

 '"We're all going to pay the tax for 

 this program anyway. We might as 

 well take advantage of it." 



Over in Channahon township, Farm 

 Bureau member Charley McCloud 

 farms 203 acres. He has seen the own- 

 er of his farm once in 13 years. "I'll go 

 along with the soil conservation pro- 

 gram if the owner will." He asked the 

 writer to look up the agent in Joliet 

 who takes care of renting the farm. 

 McCloud would be interested in get- 

 ting clover seed to sow in the small 

 grain, also limestone. But with the 

 owner in Florida the prospects are not 

 so good. He had 114 acres in soil-de- 

 pleting crops last year — 32 acres in 

 timothy. He can qualify for Class 1 

 and Class 2 payments easily with a 

 little cooperation from his landlord. 

 His payments will approximate $202 

 figured at $10 per acre for shifting 15 

 per cent of soil -depleting crops. 



"No one has been around yet," said 

 John Fosen of Aux Sable township, 

 Grundy county. Soil conservation is 

 too slow for John. He wants to fix 

 farm prices; either let the government 

 do it or farmers themselves through 

 their own organization. Fosen came 

 from Norway 34 years ago. He has 

 eight children, three grandchildren, 

 and rents the quarter section from an 

 agent in Joliet. "I have been here 12 

 years," he said, "farming on shares. 

 The landlord doesn't buy clover seed, 

 although he has grown sweet clover. 

 He can qualify for payments without 



difficulty by seeding down the oats to 

 clover, and reducing his corn or soy- 

 bean acreage or clipping part of the 

 oats." 



"Around here farmers have in- 

 creased their com acreage about 20 

 per cent," said D. J. Bols, a neighbor 

 to Fosen. "I went to our local meeting 

 in Aux Sable. Most of us will take out 

 oats by clipping or pasture. My land- 

 lord doesn't care much about the soil 

 conservation program — says he doesn't 

 want to bother with it. But I want to 

 go along. I would not have to shift 

 much. I could pasture part of my oats 



JOHN PHILLIPS 

 It may take a lot of corn this fall to pay for 

 his new tractor. 



or clip it. And I don't intend to put 

 on any more cows either." 



Bols said he has belonged to the 

 Farm Bureau since 1912. "I've been out 

 on membership drives too," he said. 

 "The Farm Buread is the best organ- 

 ization I know of today. I don't have 

 it in for the fellow who doesn't belong, 

 but I hate to have a fellow knock, es- 

 pecially when he doesn't know what 

 he's talking about." 



John Phillips who farms south of 

 Morris is a tenant. The land he is on 

 is level black clay loam. Practically 

 all of it goes into com and oats. The 

 farm has a high soil-depleting base 

 which might have to be cut by the 

 township committee. Phillips doesn't 

 know much about the plan yet, 'but 

 when it was explained he doubted if 

 he could afford to go along. He'll need 

 lots of com next fall to pay for his new 

 tractor. But if the price is low a heavy 

 yield won't help much. Phillips said: 

 "One of my neighbors had all of his 

 farm — 80 acres — in soil-depleting crops 

 last year. One of the township com- 

 mitteemen told him he would have to 

 put 24 acres in clover or soil-building 

 crops this year to get paid for 12 acres. 

 I don't think that is fair." 



The next farm we stopped at was 

 neat and well kept. It happened to be 

 the residence of J. M. Ely, president 

 of the Grundy County Farm Bureau. 

 "The boy and I run 440 acres here," 

 said Mr. Ely. "We've tried to conserve 

 fertility ever since I have been farm- 

 ing. This program is right. I think 

 farmers generally will supp>ort it. 

 Certainly they should. It's no more 

 than all farmers ought to do for their 

 own good as well as for the protection 

 of the coming generation." 



How does the plan work? Every 

 farmer in Illinois ought to know by 

 this time. But for those who have 

 missed attending township meetings, 

 several illustrations are given. 



Briefly, the plan nationally is to re- 

 duce acreage devoted to soil-depleting 

 crops some 30,000,000 acres this year 

 ... to convert this acreage not needed 

 for present market requirements to 

 clover and grass. Each farmer who re- 

 duces his soil-depleting acreage up to 

 15 per cent will be paid for each acre 

 "shifted" from such crops as com. 

 small grain, soybeans, potatoes, etc., to 

 clover, grass, alfalfa, soybeans plowed 

 under green, trees, and other soil- 

 building crops. Average payments for 

 "shifting" such crops are $10 per acre, 

 said to average $12.80 for Illinois. 



Up to $1 per acre will be paid for 

 the acreage in 1936 devoted to pas- 

 ture and hay ground (which has been 

 plowed up in the last five to six years) 

 and to such soil-building crops sown 

 this spring as clover, timothy, alfalfa. 



MAY. 1936 



