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FARMING IN 1976
John F. Kennedy was the man who said "The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything he buys at retail, sells everything he sells at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." In the sixteen years since he made that statement as a presidential candidate, little has occurred to challenge the validity or the relevance of the message he conveyed. The agricultural industry nationally, and more to the point, the farmers and ranchers of our own area, have operated in the past and continue to operate under the pressure of "cost-price" squeeze. This is to say that the farmer is forced to buy equipment and essentials at set prices and is forced to sell what he produces at whatever prices he can get. In order to survive economically, the farm industry has changed production methods and modes dramatically in the last twenty-five years.
As production costs per acre have climbed, the farmer has sought out ways to make his operation more efficient. The price of labor rose much faster than the price of farm products. this has perhaps done more to affect the vast changes in agriculture and to alter for all time the appearance of farm life. To counter the rising cost of labor, new machinery was developed to allow more ground to be covered with less actual man hours spent in the fields. Gone are the old footburner plows of yesterday. Even the disc plow is giving way to new cultivators and vibro-shanks. "Old dobbin" has been put out to pasture for some time, but he has been joined by the first tractors which replaced him. The emergence of such modern equipment, pulled by newer, more powerful tractors have greatly increased the amount of work an operator can accomplish in an hour's time. For instance, the new four wheel drive Case tractor, owned by Cecil Trefry of Delrio, is capable of pulling a modern cultivator over more land in a single day than would have comprised an entire homestead in years gone by. When combines were first introduced to the Grand Coulee area, they had an average cut of twelve feet. Now that has been virtually doubled. These new combines are not only larger, but they are also faster, many are air conditioned and a few are equipped with citizen band radios.
The innovations in farm management in our area are not restricted to wheat farming. Twenty years ago, three separate machines were needed to mow, condition, and windrow alfalfa hay. Once baled, it was necessary to load and stack the hay by hand. Today alfalfa is mowed, conditioned and windrowed by one machine. Modern stackliners automatically pick up bales, transport them from the field, and stack the entire load at one time. One man is capable with this machine of hauling more bales per day than a three man hay crew.
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Rex and Delrio farmers rely on more than just new types of machinery to improve the quality and quantity of their crops. Because farming is still a gamble with the weather and soil conditions, new kinds of wheat now grow in Big Bend fields. High yielding Club wheats such as Paha and Moro do well in our area, as does Sprague, a bearded wheat which has proven resistant to snow mold.
Hay and wheat producers alike have augmented introduction of new plant strains with the application of commercial fertilizer. Wheat and alfalfa both require substantial amounts of nitrogen, usually in ammonia form. Phosphorus and sulfur are also used. For wheat, these chemicals are usually applied in a liquid state on fallow ground, while irrigated hay fields commonly receive them as dry pellets which dissolve as the fields are watered.
The Grand Coulee Dam Area has indeed seen many changes on its farms. The farms are larger and more productive. The machinery is much larger, faster, and of course, much more expensive. This is evidenced by aerial spraying of herbicides and insecticides, combined with price tags in excess of fifty-thousand dollars, and irrigation pumps thrusting thousands of tons of water onto the land to assure local cattle herds of sufficient hay supplies. These changes, however startling they would have been to area pioneers, are only the beginning. The potential of the soil has not yet been reached. It has only been tapped. Area farmers have much to anticipate from the future, and because agriculture remains a vital part of our economy, what effects the local farmer in the future will affect us all.
Jay Weber
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FARMS THREATENED BY BOMBING RANGE
Farmers northwest of Grand Coulee have had a truly different proposition to consider since, on March 6, 1974, the United States Navy proposed using parts of northern Douglas County for a target training range. The Navy is seeking to relocate its present facilities from Boardman, Oregon, so that land there may be used for nuclear power plants and agricultural development. Several sites had been suggested with their prime interest now on the Delrio area. Latest tentative plans call for the "target center" to be about three fourths of a mile southeast of the present Royal Rinker home. Lee Hemmer remarked: "The most recent proposal reveals a complete take over of about 5,900 acres; in addition an adjacent 33,000 acres would be subject to numerous restrictions."
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In 1974 at a community meeting the North Douglas County Landowner's Committee was organized to object to having this "target range" located in northern Douglas County. Selected members of this Committee are: Lee Hemmer, Richard Rice, Gary Sanderson, and LeRoy Sanderson -- who have been voicing opposition to the Navy's proposed bombing range located here. Local county and state agencies have joined in to help prevent the uprooting and disturbance of about thirty farm families.
As there is considerable State land in this area the State Department of Natural Resources officials and State Commissioner of Public lands, Bert Cole, held a public meeting at the Delrio Grange Hall on February 26, 1976, and discussed the bombing range proposal and its effect on the area's economy.
Helen Rinker.
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