The Oil Drum

258 comments on DrumBeat: January 1, 2008

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airdale on January 1, 2008 - 6:19pm

I have a fair number of older USDA Yearbooks. These were put out by the government printing office each year. The subjects varied ..for instance one was mostly on water, another on food & fiber and so on.

If I look thru there books my father had from the mhhh 50's , and 60's they were stressing a lot of good conservation practices.

Somewhere in possibly the 70's an idiot named Earl Butz was Sec of Ag and make this sweeping stupid statement to American farmers. "Get big or get out!"...I can remember clearly my father repeating this many times to me..

So my father took out some Ag loans from those fronting those in a semi-governmental entity. What happened? He then got two more farms and went into row cropping and cattle.

He got crushed. He died a pauper on his last 10 acres. The advice for him was insane and well as many others when a huge shakeout came around the early 80s.

Those who survived brought up that distressed land and are now millionaire farmers. Few there are here but its easy to spot them for they constantly brag on themselves.

And now I no longer see those yearbooks but I can guess what they are filled with since I did used to go to many farm shows and hear all the bullshit propaganda that was being spewed forth.

Now comes the payback!!!

airdale-Rodale is the main one I now read or of his ilk. The USDA is full of shit.

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Todd on January 1, 2008 - 9:10pm

Airdale,

Ah, Ag Yearbooks. I have the 1936, 1940 and 1943-47 ones. Good information. I was probably the only one who thought they were neat at a little bookstore.

But, I'll tell you, my favorite old farm book is the reprint (Lyons Press) of Traditional American Farming Techniques published around 1917. And, for those interested, it's 1,085 pages of the "good" stuff. It's ISBN 1-58574-412-3.

Todd

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Gypsyfarmer on January 1, 2008 - 9:54pm

The 37 Yearbook is possibly the best of all, a basic text on soils. Also anything from the publisher Orange, Judd, mid 1800's to 1960, especially the series written by the Watts, father and son, on vegetables, one titled "Forcing Vegetables", has the greatest picture illustrating how badly we have gone off track in the past century. It's an electric freight trolley loading at a greenhouse range to go directly into the city...and a happy New Year.

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bruce from chicago on January 2, 2008 - 10:13am

Todd, thanx for that cite on the book. I'm going to see if anyone offers it online. Fat chance of finding it or ordering it from my small town (pop. 1,200)library - but you never know.