is to make physically suitable land available so that farmers who may- 

 need it will have the opportunity to make arrangements for using it. Many 

 changes in farm organization and operation are underway in New England. 

 Making suitable land available should help toward recombining agricultural 

 resources in the most efficient manner. 



The Private Interest 



In A FREE enterprise economy the decisions as to just what land will be used 

 are mostly made by individuals. Present and potential productivity, ease 

 of tillage, size of field, and location are some of the things which tend to in- 

 fluence what will be farmed and what will not. Individual owners will have 

 to make judgments as to whether their agricultural properties are worth fur- 

 thur investment. Individual farmers will have to decide whether they can 

 profit by improving and farming land available to them. Agricultural 

 specialists, including county agents and other extension service, represent- 

 atives, can help with these decisions. Farmers in particular circumstances 

 may profitably use land which others could not. Furthermore, in the adop- 

 tion of new ivays, including heavier forage production and the enlargement 

 of herds, those who act first benefit most. A farmer should strive to get good 

 land and he cannot afford to use land that is too bad. But if he is short of 

 land, he can afford to use less than the best, especially if he is in the fore- 

 front of those adopting sound new methods and expanding output. 



1. How Individual Farmers May Benefit 



There are two general groups of farmers who may benefit from the use 

 of idle land: the present operators of small farms and the young men short 

 of capital who want to become farmers. As noted above, 75 percent of New 

 Hampshire dairy farms were milking less than 20 cows and 94 percent less 

 than 30 cows. The operators of these farms, if able-bodied and good man- 

 agers, should be interested in expansion. When the obstacle is limited land 

 on their home farms they should thoroughly examine the possibilities of 

 obtaining land from the idle or nearly idle places within a radius of several 

 miles. There is some tendency for the idle pieces to be more numerous in 

 the areas where there are the most small farms. 



It is well known that a modern commercial farm represents a consider- 

 able investment. A 20-cow New Hampshire dairy farm stocked and equipped 

 probably represents an investment in excess of $20,000 at 1950 prices, and 

 a farm of 30 cows an investment in excess of $30,000. Many young men 

 interested and qualified by training cannot readily raise even the down pay- 

 ment for such a farm. A few of them may be able to start as managers or 

 as renters of farm units. More of them may be able to get a start through 

 intelligent use of family resources. In farm families the boys may be given 

 some share in the family business proportionate to their work and invest- 

 ment. As the boys are able to do more work the farm business may be ex- 

 panded. In some cases this may be done by renting idle land to support 

 a larger herd. By the time the sons are ready to set up independent house- 

 holds, their assets, accumulated on a home farm base, may be at least 

 enough to enable them to borrow the remainder needed to become estab- 

 lished on an independent farm — which might be a rented farm or an 

 owned farmstead supplemented by some rented land. The renting of land 

 to supplement the home farm thus becomes a means of helping young men 



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