128 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



with this period prices are high, but, when comparing with a long 

 period of time, the prices that farmers receive are not very high. 



Crop yields east of the Mississippi River have been rapidly in- 

 creasing in the last ten to fifteen years. Before that time there 

 was a period of low yields, because of low prices. 



Farmers know how to raise much larger crops, and do raise 

 larger crops whenever they are convinced that prices will be high 

 enough to make it pay to do so. 



In nearly every county in the United States there is consider- 

 able land that can be brought into use by clearing, drainage, irri- 

 gation, or other means. This land will allow for a considerable 

 increase in production. 



But there is very little that can be done to increase production 

 without increased cost. Land that must be cleared, drained, irri- 

 gated, green-manured, or heavily fertilized is expensive land. The 

 bushels grown on it are expensive bushels. After a fair yield has 

 been secured, every bushel that we get usually costs more than the 

 preceding bushel. Farmers quickly adjust their yields to prices. 

 If present prices continue, production will be increased. If prices 

 rise, production will be considerably increased. 



There does not seem to be any likelihood that prices paid to 

 farmers can be permanently lowered, but there are ways of de- 

 creasing the cost of food to the consumer. 



The machinery of distribution after products leave the farm is 

 unnecessarily expensive. Much of this cost can be eliminated. 



Of necessity we are using more foods that come from plants 

 and less animal foods. 



By locating factories in villages where the workers can have 

 gardens, the cost of living may be reduced. 



The popular suggestions to reduce the size of farms and to im- 

 port cheap labor to help farm are more likely to result in expen- 

 sive, rather than cheap, food. Small farms that follow the same 

 type of farming usually have less left to sell than do moderate- 

 sized farms, because so much is consumed by the horses and the 

 men who work the land. 



A restriction of immigration by raising the standard for admis- 

 sion is strongly advised as one of the best means of preventing 



