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was perhaps most important. Better breeds of animals and 

 varieties of plants and improved cultural practices have had 

 their influence. In recent years the favorable weather has 

 increased yields and hence output per farm worker. 



One hundred years ago the farmer produced food primarily 

 for himself. As his efficiency rose, he produced food for him- 

 self and also a surplus of food for the city consumer. The 

 proportion of the total population that can live in the city 

 is dependent upon the farmer's efficiency as a food-producer. 



TABLE 1. INDEX OF PRODUCTION OF FOOD AND FEED 

 CROPS PER FARM WORKER, 1910 TO 1942 



1926-30 = 100 



Family Labor Does Most Farm Work 



About twenty per cent of the population of the United 

 States lives on farms. During 1942 about one third were 

 workers, of whom 2,500,000 were classified as hired hands, 

 and almost 8,000,000 as family workers. 



At the present time as in the past most of the manpower 

 on farms is farm family labor, and not hired labor, as the 

 man on the assembly line usually assumes. Over three fourths 

 of the working force on farms in 1943 was "unpaid labor," 

 consisting of the farmer himself, his wife, and his children. 

 The paid labor, more commonly known as hired labor, repre- 

 sented the remaining quarter. 



