Table 6. Average Years of School Attended by Operators in Relation 

 to the Net Farm Income for 1956 



D. Farm Improvements 



A 4th hypothesis was that farm operators who had not considered leaving 

 would have adopted more improvements and would have increased the 

 size of their operations more than those with a propensity to leave. 



To test this hypothesis, information was obtained on growth factors such 

 as number of cows milked, number of layers, number of broilers and value 

 of farm sales between 1945 and 1955. The farms were then rated as to 

 increasing, decreasing, or constant growth. The proportion in each group 

 are given in Table 7. 



Table 7. Percentage of Farm Operators Who Had Increased, Decreased or Had Made No 



Change in the Size of Their Operation During the Previous Two Decades According to 



Whether They Had Considered Leaving or Not Considered Leaving 



Change in Size 

 of Operation 



Had Considered 

 Leaving 



Had Not Considered 

 Leaving 



Increasing 

 Decreasing 

 Constant 



Total 



Percent 



100 



No. 



36 



Percent 



100 



No. 



217 



From this evidence almost the same proportion of operators who had not 

 considered leaving had increased the size of their operations as had those 

 who had considered leaving. 



As for the adoption of improvements, both groups had adopted one or 

 more of such practices as overhead grain storage, automatic feeder, anti- 

 biotic feeds, commercial phosphate fertilizer, or automatic gutter cleaner. 

 No significant difference was apparent. 



