Farm Types in Nebraska, as Determined by 
Climatic, Soil, and Economic Factors 
by 
R. R. Spafford 
INTRODUCTION 
This bulletin treats chiefly of Nebraska agricultural areas 
I as determined by climatic, soil, and economic factors. Most 
of the subject matter centers about the kind of farm crops 
grown and their yields. Cultural practices applied to crops 
are only incidentally considered. Most of the data used are 
from the Thirteenth Census of the United States and cover 
the crop year 1909. The small amount of data not derived 
from this source comes largely from field studies in this 
; State and is used merely to support certain methods of treat- 
ing census data. 
To make the basis of the analysis of Nebraska agricul- 
tural areas more stable, it has been necessary to follow thru- 
out the northern hemisphere some of the very general prin- 
ciples in regard to climate, soil, plants, and people. Further- 
more, it has been necessary to place the crop groups (based on 
the classification of annual crops) of Nebraska in line with 
those of the United States as a whole and to extend the size- 
of-farm study thruout the Great Plains region. 
Crop-group belts are determined largely by the quantity 
of heat received and in general extend from east to west. The 
* size of farm in the Great Plains is determined largely by rain- 
j fall and serves as a good index to the quantity of field crop and 
i pasture growth. The general trend of any given size-of-farm 
belt in this region is from north to south. The fact that crop- 
group belts and size-of-farm belts in Nebraska tend to run at 
\ right angles to one another makes it a relatively simple matter 
to block out areas that have a fairly uniform type of farming. 
In determining the boundaries of type areas, soils are not 
ignored. Extreme conditions of texture and topography de- 
