Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 6, 1976.
Mechanical Revolution Alters Country Way Of Life
More Machinery, Increased Yields Cut Farm Numbers
By JACK AYLESWORTH
THE LAST CENTURY has seen far greater change in American agriculture than all of the previous centuries combined. We have seen the transformation from muscle powerーboth animal and humanーto motor power. As a direct result of this shift, U.S. farmers have increased their productivity to a point never before reached.
In Colonial times almost everyone was a farmer by necessity, since a farmer produced little more than enough to feed himself and his family. By 1950, one farmer produced enough food and fiber for himself and 15 other people. By 1976, his productivity had increased to a point where he produced enough for 51 people.
As farm worker productivity increased, the number of farmers decreased. In 1920 Porter County had 1,791 farms. In 1973, there were only 661 farms.
THE REFINEMENT of the internal combustion engine made its application for farm power more useful. Whereas the first common gasoline (or kerosene) tractor pulled two 14-inch plows at about three miles an hour, the large 1976 models can pull 10 16-inch plows at six miles an hour. This is a tenfold increase in the amount of production from the operator.
Even greater increase has been made in harvesting. When corn was harvested by hand, it took a man with better than average ability to harvest 100 bushels of corn per day. With today’s large combine, one man can harvest 9,000 to 10,000 bushels in one day. This is a hundredfold increase.
The changes in farming from muscle power have altered life on the farm in many ways. No longer is it necessary for neighbors to join with each other to go from farm to farm threshing wheat and oats, shredding corn, filling silos, sawing wood for winter fuel, butchering hogs and cattle for meat, and raising barns. Each farm is more nearly self-sufficient with regard to labor.
IN THE EARLY 1900s, livestock, dairy products, and grain were the major items of farm output in Porter County. In 1976, farmers in this area raise mostly corn and soybeans.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, electric power lines spread along almost every county road in Porter County, bringing modern conveniences to both the farmer and his wife. More replacement for muscle power.
The Federal Rural Electrification Administration permitted groups of farmers to farm cooperatives to build lines and bring electricity to isolated areas where public utilities did not find it economically feasible to provide service. The REA provided low interest loans for construction and cooperatives purchased their electricity from public utilities. Electricity was a major factor in enabling farmers to shell, dry, and store corn in large quantities.
NO STORY OF AGRICULTURAL progress is complete without credit being given to the role played by the land grant colleges such as Purdue University. In 1862, under Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, grants of public land were made to finance construction of agricultural and engineering collegesーone in every state. Most of the grants were for western land and the property was sold to gain funds for colleges in other states. These schools not only educated engineers, farmers, and farm leaders, but they also performed research on all phases of agriculture.
The County Agricultural Agent serves as a vital link connecting the research being done at Purdue with the practical application on the commercial farm. He advises farmers to test their soil and use proper amounts of plant food, to use improved tillage practices, to use new varieties of crops and livestock, and to form their own organizations such as the Farm Bureau and cooperatives.
One of the most important products of education and research at the land grant colleges was the development of hybrid corn. This probably doubled the corn production in the U.S. and it is proving to be a valuable export. One of the pioneers in the production of hybrid seed corn was Porter County's own George Chester who applied Purdue research at the commercial level and who produced and sold hybrid corn for many years under the name of Chester Hybrids.
Emil Kuehl was photographed before 1920 using horse-drawn corn planter on his Morgan Township farm. Photo loaned by Vernon Dinse.
