236 



DRY- FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



efficiency of the individual and of the agricultural community. Inefficiency 

 on the farm, the store, or the factory, is not a problem that is unsolvable. 



How to Increase Farm Efficiency. 



Farm profits may be increased by the education of the individual and 

 teaching methods which will bring profits. This can be accomplished among 

 the boys and girls by our colleges and schools. Our farms, however, are 

 in the hands of men in the prime of life. They will operate these farms for 

 the next twenty or twenty-five years. For this reason, the problem of 

 adult education is as important as that of the boy and girl. It deals with 

 the present and determines our prosperity and effectiveness for a quarter 

 of a century hence. 



One, if not the most effective, method of obtaining this result is 

 through the use of the field agent and farm demonstrations. This man, 

 located within a restricted district, is in daily contact with the farmer. He 

 may through the establishment of demonstrations in alfalfa, livestock feed- 

 ing or care, crop rotation, corn production, or other phases of farm practice., 

 call attention to the possibilities of the production of that region. Success- 

 ful demonstrations are followed in the community and within a compar- 

 atively short time marked changes may be brought about in a community or 

 the state. The effectiveness of this form of work and its application may 

 be illustrated by some of the work which has been carried on by the Better 

 Farming Section of the North Dakota Experiment Station. Work has been 

 under way for three years now. Twenty-four field agents are employed. 

 One of the problems of the state was to secure a greater diversification 

 through the use of livestock. Within three years the acreage of alfalfa 

 increased from 3,033 acres to approximately 90,000 acres, or was multiplied 

 thirty times. The corn acreage slightly more than doubled, increasing about 

 125 percent. The average yields for the five years preceding 1911 when 

 work began was 23 bushels per acre; and for the three years since work 

 was started, 27.6 bushels per acre, an increased yield of 18 percent. The 

 number of hogs sold from the state in 1913 was more than doufre that of 

 any previous year, and 150 percent greater than the average of the five 

 preceding years. It is estimated that the sales this year will again double 

 those of last year. The sale of milk and dairy products has practically 

 doubled within three years, while at the same time, the number of dairy 

 cows have increased tremendously, 28,547 in two years. Careful estimates 

 at the present" time indicate that the increased sale of livestock products 

 from the state will be eight and one-half millions of dollars greater than 

 three years ago, and at the same time the total production of wheat, oats, 

 barley and rye is practically the same. Increases or decreases in the total 

 production of these crops, with the exception of flax, have been slight. 



The reason for these changes may be attributed to various factors. 

 Their importance is a matter of opinion. However, during the period of 

 this change, but one new force has been introduced, viz., the field agent car- 

 rying his message of Better Farming direct to the individual on the farm. 



In conclusion, the careful student of affairs cannot fail to admit that the 

 farm business is relatively inefficient from a profit standpoint, and that 



