The Central Farming Region: Food For The Nation

we are flying over the central farming region of the United States a vast rich area in the middle each year produces enormous harvests of food yet whose agricultural and industrial resources are still being developed and whose full potential has yet to be realized what makes the central farming region so important to our nation and to the world why is it foremost among the great agricultural areas of the world what is life like for the farmers who live and work here and what are some of their problems first we must realize that the central farming region is very large it covers nearly one-third of the total land area of the United States it is almost one thousand miles from Canada the northern boundary to the Texas Panhandle on the southern border and it is over a thousand miles from Montana in the West to Ohio in the east still more important climate generally favourable to agriculture prevails over the entire region rain adequate for a variety of crop falls from storms that sweep from west to east over the land and because the central farming region forms a great natural basin the water runoff follows the overall slope of the land rivers flow eastward from the Rocky Mountains and westward from the Appalachians joining and swelling the mighty Mississippi as it moves toward the Gulf of Mexico draining the whole region but climate and water are not enough to make the central farming region a great agricultural area there is something else good soil soil rich in the minerals that plants need for food soil that's easy to work not rocky or heavy with clay large fields that are generally flat or gently rolling so that rain soaks in instead of running off as it falls there is much land like this in the central farming region but it is used in different ways to grow a variety of crops barley for instance is a major crop on the flat rich soil of the Red River Valley in North Dakota and Minnesota but so is flax from which linseed oil and fine linen are made and so are sugar beets and spring wheat dairy cattle producing the fresh milk butter and cheese consumed by city dwellers in the Great Lakes area graze on much of the land farther east in Minnesota Wisconsin Illinois and Michigan but the same general area produces great quantities of fruit such as cherries apples strawberries and blueberries as well as vegetables such as peas and potatoes to fill the nation's food basket from Ohio westward through Indiana Illinois Iowa parts of Kansas and Nebraska corn is the chief field crop this is the corn and livestock Belt of the central farming region cattle and logs raised here to be processed in packing plants in the Midwest provide the whole country with beef and pork because corn is excellent feed for livestock most large-scale corn farmers keep firts which they import from western ranges to fatten and sell more grown in the American Corn Belt each year than on all the rest of the world's farmland put together farther west and south winter wheat is the major crops across broad sections of Kansas Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle but some land has not been plowed for crops native grasses which cover these hills and valleys provide excellent grazing land for beef cattle in spite of the great variety of crops raised and the different kinds of farming carried on in the central farming region certain general facts do stand out the north-central area with its cool summers and short growing season is mostly given to dairy farming has earned the nickname of America's Dairyland the central area south and west of the Great Lakes is the greatest corn growing country in the world summers there are hotter and the growing season is longer at the same time this area is the source of much of the prime beef and pork of which Americans eat more than most people around the world in the higher drier areas west of the Corn Belt and dairy land sweet is the principal crop and it is because of the enormous harvests of golden wheat that this region has come to be called the breadbasket of the nation because of local conditions of the soil or climate certain areas in the central farming region produce mainly fruit and vegetables which must also be included in our thinking about the total agricultural production of the region as we have seen the variety of things grown as well as the quantity makes the central farming region one of the foremost agricultural areas of the world however the enormous productivity of modern farmers in the central farming region cannot be explained solely by the natural resources of rich soil good climate insufficient water no we must be aware of something else something very important which man himself has developed to work the land that's something else is machinery machines make the difference machines that do the work of a hundred men machines that work tirelessly efficiently machines for combining wheat and for every other kind of farm work for harvesting corn and potatoes for milking cows and dusting crops for making silage Chloe planting cultivating storing fertilizing spraying bailing and even farm products farming has been mechanized and machines are largely responsible for the tremendous production of the central farming region production which means that Americans unlike people in many other parts of the world are well fed and well dressed most of the time but as the growing number of abandoned farm houses in the Midwest tells us the large-scale use of machinery for farming has created some problem and brought about some changes in the central farming region for one thing great numbers of people are leaving their farms to move to the cities sitting at Omaha Chicago Cleveland and others each of them a center of industry with over a half million population where factories provide employment for many people who have left their farms new housing developments in city suburbs provide some of these people with homes near the factories where they work but as one of them will tell you those who want to stay on the land have to adapt their farming methods to the changing times my name is Charles Grant farm his way of life of my family but it is another used to be my great grandfather homesteaded his place in 1817 cultivating the land again became him title to the Rays 160 acres of this farm that includes the fields were looking at now plus some pasture that on the other side of the barn all he can take care of even though he had four boys and hired hands harvest time nowadays with proper soil management contour cropping and crop rotation plus hybrid seed fertilizers and chemicals to control insects weeds and plant diseases a good farmer can get several times as much from 160 acres as my grandfather could and with machine a modern para can just as well take care of six four seven hundred acres is 160 this farm for example has grown to 640 acres that's one square mile of land but many farms today are even larger but our neighbors became discouraged during the drought years my dad bought them out and as my brother and I came of age he was able to send us agricultural farm organizations like the ones that publish these magazines are always coming out with something new and County Agricultural agents in every part of the country are very important in spreading information about new and better ways to farm any farmer who is willing to take the trouble to learn how to be a better farmer and that's what it takes to be successful today Harvey has become a big business it takes a lot of land a lot of money a lot of machinery but most important it takes know-how those that haven't got to know how soon go out of business that's what I keep telling my son John but someday he'll be running things and I want him to make a go of it this is a picture of what Charles Grant is described on a section of land 640 acres where once there were four farms and four different families there is now only one farm and that one farm if it is well run with the help of machines produces much more than all four used to with fewer hands to do the work for families like that of Charles Grant life on the farm today is much easier and more pleasant than it was for his grandfather and great-grandfather he lives in a modern home his wife has all the kitchen appliances that city women has to help accomplish their daily tasks just transport his children to large consolidated schools which are replacing the old one-room schools of yesterday where all eight grades studied together under one teacher regular mail delivery television telephones and radios keep him and his family in touch with all that goes on in the world new highway systems throughout the area late farms like that of the grants to Midwestern cities making it easier than ever for modern farmers to ship their produce to city markets and markets in the major cities receive produce grain and livestock by the truckload every day on a map we can see how highways and railroads tie the central farming region to the economy of the rest of our country and how the central farming region has been opened up to trade with the whole world from the Atlantic Ocean ships from all nations can sail up the st. Lawrence Seaway through the Great Lakes all the way to Milwaukee and Chicago Freight from the farthest corner of the world is unloaded daily at these great Inland Sea ports and produce from Midwestern farms is loaded for shipment abroad thus the central farming region has become a source of food and supplies for the entire world and at this moment agricultural scientists are working in laboratories to develop new breeds of plants new fertilizers chemical weed stoppers and insecticides with which farmers can continue to increase the productivity of the land to meet the demands of an ever-growing population demands for grains such as wheat and corn for vegetables such as peas for potatoes for fruit such as cherries strawberries and apples or dairy products made from the rich milk produced by Midwestern dairy herds for beef and pork as well as for manufactured products from the mills and factories of mid-america all of which make up the total yearly output of consumer products from the vast fertile lands of the region products which will play an important role in the national economy as well as abroad so long as men have need to eat for their agricultural wealth for the abundance in which they live for the plentiful harvest and prosperity Americans have much to thank the central farming region USA