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...scale undertakings are inherently more efficient." But after a survey of farms in different regions of the country, he concluded that most economies of scale "are achieved by the one-man fully mechanized farm. While the most efficient farm size has increased in the last decade, due mainly to tractor improvements, this 1973 report found that most farmers need a much smaller acreage and capital investment than Pat Benedict. For instance, a vegetable grower in California produces at his maximum potential on a farm of 200 acres with less than one-fifth of Benedict's investment in machinery...

Author: By Celia W. Dugger, | Title: Down on the Farmer | 11/16/1978 | See Source »

According to Business Week, the four biggest tractor firms control over 80 per cent of the market. And William Shepard, in his book Market Power and Economic Welfare discovered that the four top firms in any given food product line control an average of 55 per cent of the market. And both the farmers' suppliers and buyers average profits three to four times greater than the farmers...

Author: By Celia W. Dugger, | Title: Down on the Farmer | 11/16/1978 | See Source »

...world?has more than doubled the price of U.S. farm land since 1972, to an average $490 an acre last February; prime Midwestern corn and soybean land sells for $2,000 an acre. A tractor that sold for $16,000 in 1974 may cost almost twice as much now; it would have a few new features, but be no more powerful. The result is that farmers have been forced into financing decisions as intricate as those facing corporate treasurers. Borrowing money at interest rates of up to 12% to buy or rent additional land and invest in machinery can improve...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The New American Farmer | 11/6/1978 | See Source »

...full-time hired hands, and during peak planting and harvest periods a dozen migrants from Texas or local high school students. The primary work force is the family: Sons Michael, 20, Blane, 18, Kurt, 13, and Daughters Stephanie, 19, and Lisa, 16. Even eleven-year-old David drives a tractor pulling a harvester that yanks three tons of sugar beets out of the ground every minute. All earn $3 an hour. During the wheat harvest each of them worked eight hours a day in staggered shifts so that some member of the family was in the fields 24 hours...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The New American Farmer | 11/6/1978 | See Source »

...only Benedict exempted from chores is two-year-old Luke, and even he tours the fields regularly, bouncing on his father's lap in a pickup truck (his present on his second birthday: a toy tractor). Besides the supervision and paperwork, Pat labors with his hands too, doing most of the machinery repairs himself...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: The New American Farmer | 11/6/1978 | See Source »

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