one who settled on it. This was, and still is, a policy of our federal
government.
The number of farms increased very rapidly as railroads ad-
vanced into new lands—from 1.5 million in 1850 to 6.5 million in
1920. Land in farms grew from 294 to 956 million acres over the
same period and the value of land and buildings on farms from 3.3
to 66.4 billion dollars. The distribution of population shifted even
more heavily toward rural areas and farming. In 1850 there was one
farm for each 16 persons but this changed to one farm for each
12.5 persons by 1880. By 1920, a reversal had set in and our urban
population had grown so that the the number of persons per farm
was back to where it was in 1850. Nonetheless, we did not reach
our peak of 6.8 million farms until 1935.
Technological Change Leads to Further Agricultural Development
Change did not cease at the end of our railroad building era.
By 1964, we had only one farm per 61 persons. Cropland harvested
per person dropped from 3.3 acres in 1920 to 1.5 acres in 1964.
The value of land and buildings on farms rose from 66.5 to 160
billion dollars. The number of farms dropped from 6.5 to 3.2 million.
Most of you know the generally credited causes of these dra-
matic changes since 1920. The exploding population of Europe in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries could not be adequately fed
and clothed by land settlement of the United States only. Capital
intensification of U.S. agriculture was delayed by the small indus-
trial capacity of the nation. Land resources of Canada, Mexico, South
America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia were also opened to develop-
ment. U.S. agriculture then lost some of its early comparative ad-
vantage.
Technological change in farming methods, once put in stride by
a reasonably prosperous agriculture during the two World Wars and
the Korean War, was rapid. Petroleum replaced hay and feed grains
as a source of farm energy, releasing about 90 million acres of land
from the production of feed for draft animals to other uses. Com-
mercial fertilizer and pesticides have been substituted for land. In
addition, output rose from improved seeds, better and more timely
cultivation, planting, and harvesting practices.
The 125 percent increase in farm output from 1910-14 to 1967
required only a 28 percent increase in inputs. Farm-supplied inputs
in 1967 were actually less than 50 percent of what they were in
1910-14. Purchased inputs increased 164 percent. These figures
99