38 THE FARMER AND THE NEW DAY 



Food Use Home and Hotel continued 



Cooking 

 Serving 

 Wastes 



THE FARMER'S PROBLEM 



This outline of the problem of the world's food 

 supply gives us a starting point from which to discover 

 the problem of the farmer. He is the supplier of soil 

 grown materials. There is no need for his labor un- 

 less his products are wanted and used. The difficulties, 

 needs and possibilities of the farmer's occupation arise 

 from his effort to supply the world's food and other 

 materials immediately dependent upon the soil. So- 

 ciety needs things that can be secured only through the 

 use of the soil. The man who uses the soil to meet 

 this need is the farmer. If we could treat the farms 

 of the world as one big farm, we would first discover 

 the food needs to be met by what the soil can produce. 

 The fundamental question in agriculture is, " What 

 special needs, difficulties, and possibilities does the 

 farmer face as he seeks to become most effective in this 

 task of supplying the world's food? " 



Before proceeding, it might be wise to state that in 

 this book the words agriculture or farming are used to 

 mean the industry or occupation of growing things 

 from the soil, both plants and animals; country life or 

 farm life includes the so-called social aspects of agricul- 

 ture, that is, the things that affect the welfare of people 

 that live together in the country, such as education, 

 recreation, health; rural is used for the whole range of 

 interests attached to farmers and farming as over 

 against the city or urban interests. 



It is not the purpose of this book to discuss the spe- 



