acreage was on holdings generally classed as noncommercial farms. As 

 pointed out in the section on farm numbers, many of the smaller holdings 

 with the lower levels of land productivity change gradually from cropland 

 into woods. Eventually, the cost of harvesting the hay crop exceeds the 

 value of the hay, and the land remains idle. Had there been no Soil Bank 

 Program, it is estimated that 850 acres of land in this category would 

 have been abandoned for cropland use during the period the Program was 

 in operation. The cropland on the more commercial type of unit whether 

 enrolled in the Soil Bank or normally idled would have stayed in the agri- 

 cultural system of the County because of its relative level of productivity. 

 The net effect of the Program in terms of cropland idled and removed 

 from production is estimated to be about 4,350 acres. 



Livestock. While 418 cows were on units enrolled in the Soil Bank, this 

 number does not represent the net cow removals associated with the Pro- 

 gram. Seventy-two cows remained in farmer ownership after the units were 

 enrolled. This leaves a net of 346 cows which were essentially eliminated 

 from production by the Soil Bank. However, as with land and farm num- 

 bers, economic forces have caused a downward trend in cow numbers in 

 the County. This would modify the estimate of the effect of the Program 

 on cow numbers. An examination of each farm unit enrolled in the Pro- 

 gram was made to estimate the true net effect of the Program on cow 

 numbers. Taking into account the animals that would have left produc- 

 tion had there been no Soil Bank Program, 195 cows were estimated to 

 have been removed from the County because of the Program. 



Machinery. Only 37 of the 120 whole unit Soil Bank Cooperators re- 

 ported farm machinery of any type. The machines reported varied con- 

 siderably in both age and usability. Some equipment was of horse-drawn 

 vintage and had little resale value while some was relatively new. Tractor 

 numbers adjusted for age of a 16-year life was used as an indicator of 

 machinery released by the Program. Taking into account the individual 

 farms that would have stopped production had there been no Soil Bank 

 Program, it was estimated that the Program freed for sale the equiva- 

 lent of 12 new tractors. 



Buildings. Of the 120 whole units enrolled, 67 had farm buildings of 

 some kind and 80 had dwelling houses. About 78 percent of the dwellings 

 were used year-round. While the dwelling has some importance in terms 

 of an agricultural resource, when the farm buildings are destroyed by fire 

 or other cause it has often meant the cessation of farming on individual units. 

 Historically, this has been the case, and almost half of the units enrolled 

 had no farm buildings. Of the buildings on units enrolled, many were in 

 rather poor repair and technologically obsolete. For these reasons and the 

 fact that buildings generally must be associated with particular land hold- 

 ings, no economic values or inferences can be obtained from the build- 

 ings idled by the Program. 



Labor. As shown elsewhere, most of the units enrolled in the Program 

 were not full-time commercial farms. Of the 26 units with reasonably 

 full-time employment, 10 persons had nonfarm jobs before enrollment. 

 Others remained in agricultural work and the net effect of the Program 

 was to increase the persons seeking nonfarm work by four. This is con- 

 sidered to be a negligible effect on the resource pattern of the County. 



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