and a questionnaire has been sent to 

 selectmen in 140 agricultural towns. 



In Greenland and Stratham, 36 

 places were found with idle or very 

 lightly used farm land of worth-while 

 quality and amount. Altogether 

 these 36 places had approximately 

 1,300 acres of tillage land and 850 

 acres of non-wooded pasture. Eight 

 places had land enough to support 

 a family-size commercial dairy farm, 

 and 11 more had nearly enough, but 

 because the buildings were occupied 

 by the owner in nearly every case, 

 both the larger and smaller places 

 represent opportunities chiefly to far- 

 mers who have their farmsteads but 

 need more land. In these small 

 towns 13 active farmers indicated a 

 need for land. 



Apparently, on many small places 

 and on a few larger ones, residential 

 demand has outbid agricultural de- 

 mand. However, the two uses are 

 often not mutually exclusive because 

 most of the owners of idle land were 

 willing to have it farmed, and there 

 appear to be mutually agreeable 

 terms for leasing. 



This preliminary study suggests 

 the need for: 



1. Pointing out to owners the ad- 

 vantages of renting or selling their 

 farm land. 



2. Making available to active far- 

 mers a list of land that might be 

 rented or purchased. 



3. Learning more about current 

 renting practices and encouraging the 

 better ones. 



W. K. BURKETT 



The Seasonal Milk Problem. Defi- 

 ciences in milk supplies on the Boston 

 market from the New England milk- 

 shed during fall and winter months 

 has necessitated imports to that mar- 

 ket from outside areas. Before 

 World War II supplies from New 



England sources were adequate to 

 meet consumer demands for fluid 

 milk during the entire year. While 

 this did not mean that there was even 

 production from all farms, the sea- 

 sonality was less pronounced, No- 

 vember-December deliveries averag- 

 ing approximately 65 per cent of 

 May-June deliveries. 



Increased milk consumption has 

 necessitated an expansion of the Bos- 

 ton milkshed into former cheese and 

 butter areas, and has created a 

 squeeze on total available supplies, 

 particularly during the fall and win- 

 ter months. This increased demand 

 has highlighted the producer pro- 

 blems related to high feed costs and 

 labor shortages. At the same time 

 the increased demand for beef ex- 

 pressed in high prices has caused 

 the sale of dairy cows and replace- 

 ment stock with a resulting depletion 

 of milk-producing herds. Both the 

 short- and the long-run effects are 

 cause for concern by those responsi- 

 ble for meeting consumer demand. 

 As milk prices are administered, it 

 is essential that those responsible for 

 prices should be fully informed of 

 the competitive conditions in the sup- 

 ply areas in testing the adequacy of 

 their price schemes in a dynamic 

 market. 



With these and other objectives 

 in mind, the states supplying the ma- 

 jor proportion of the Boston milk, 

 namely, New Hampshire, Maine, and 

 Vermont, are co-operating in a joint 

 study to analyze the basic conditions 

 of an uneven supply in these areas. 

 A preliminary report of an inter- 

 regional committee on dairy market- 

 ing research, set up in 1946 under 

 the Research and Marketing Act, 

 "Factors Affecting Seasonal Milk 

 Production and Their Effect on Pro- 

 ducers' Costs and Returns," surveys 

 work already done in this field and 

 outlines additional research needed. 



