86770 0-62-3

6

1.6

TOTALS

Total farm production assets (32) are increasing, but average assets per farm (32) are increasing nearly twice as fast (fig. 3). The increase in assets per farm reflects not only the general rise in prices but also a combination of larger farming enterprises, more and costlier machinery and equipment, and more highly engineered buildings.

Each year our national population is increasing, and each year the number of farmworkers is decreasing. During the decade 1950-60, the decrease was 2.8 million workers (31, table 6H). Also, our per capita consumption of meat is increasing; in 1960 the average American ate 33 pounds more red meat and poultry than he did in 1940 (30, p. 9). Meat production is closely related to the farmstead and increased production requires more and better farmstead structures and equipment. These include building materials, agricultural chemicals, energy forms and sources, and other types of supplies and materials. Also needed are engineering and management knowledge and ability.

Agricultural research-particularly agricultural engineering research has to keep pace with these increasing demands if we are to maintain our position as the "best fed" Nation.

1961

*REAL ESTATE EXCEPT DWELLINGS,
LIVESTOCK, MACHINERY, MOTOR
VEHICLES EXCEPT 60% OF AUTO-
MOBILES AND OTHER MINOR ITEMS

FIGURE 3.-Farm production assets (32, tables 16 and 17).

AVERAGE PER FARM

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Materials, structures, equipment, and energy used on the farmstead are developed to meet needs created by economic, sociologic, and technologic changes-changes in markets, communications, power, and construction techniques (27).

THE PIONEER PERIOD

The pioneer period in our history was one of self-sufficiency. Survival was a primary objective. Conservation of natural resources was not a factor. Structures and equipment were minimum—native materials (logs, earth, and sod) and a few handtools. The pioneer geared his production to feeding, clothing, and housing himself and his family. Livestock shelters and service buildings were crude or nonexistent. Wood was the major fuel. Incentive to produce for market was lacking.

PERIOD OF EXPANDING MARKETS

The period of expanding markets brought a complex of economic, moral, and technologic advances that greatly influenced farm production and its tools. More advanced and complicated buildings began to appear first in the Northern States, where winters were severe enough to emphasize the need for shelter. As population density increased in the market areas, competition also increased, and more attention was devoted to improving production facilities. Electric energy began to reach the farm. Designers began to give attention to saving chore labor and using power equipment.

With the creation of the Department of Agriculture and the landgrant colleges research activities were initiated, which eventually progressed into the farmstead structures and equipment area.

In the report of the U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture in 1867, it was said:

*** Large and excellent barns have greatly multiplied of late, and many of them are planned and built upon principles of sound science and the most rigid business economy ***.

Lumber was the principal building material. Logs came from the virgin forests to the lumber mills, where they were sawed for building purposes. Conservation of timber resources was not widely practiced. In 1878 a unique barn was completed in Muscatine, Iowa, that featured bent, laminated rafters, facilities for handling grain, laborsaving arrangements, and air conditioning.

By about 1900 heavy framing timbers became scarce and builders were forced to seek other materials and means of construction. Although wood remained a major building material, framing methods had to be developed to use the lighter timbers. Concrete began to gain prominence and a truss steel-frame barn (claimed to be the first in the United States) was built in Fayetteville, N.Y., in 1907 (8).