for products contributed to the lower incomes. For these eight types, average net income per farm in 1963 ranged from $1,721 for the New Jersey egg-producing farms to $36,947 for the large-scale Mississippi Delta cotton farms. The greatest decline occurred on the Corn Belt hog-beef fattening farms where average net farm income went from $10,183 in 1962 to $4,834 in 1963. On the large-scale Mississippi Delta cotton farms, average net farm income rose from $30,986 in 1962 to $36,947 in 1963. Average net farm incomes in 1962 were higher than in 1951-55 or 1955-60 on most of the 39 types. They were higher than in 1956-60 on 32 of the 39 types, about the same on 3 and lower on 4. Incomes were lower in 1962 than in either of these 5-year periods on central-northeast dairy farms and on cottonspecialty crop and cotton-general crop (medium-sized) farms in the San Joaquin Valley of California. All farm types on which average incomes increased in 1962 either had higher farm production or received higher prices for products sold, or both. 4. Farm real estate values resume upward trend.-Market values of farm real estate advanced somewhat more sharply in the 4 months ended July 1, 1963, than in the same period a year earlier. The national index advanced 3 percent, to a level 27 percent above the 1957-59 average. The July 1, 1963, index was 6 percent above a year earlier; increases for the 12-month period ranged from 4 percent in the Northeast, Lake and Corn Belt States, to 8 or 9 percent in the southeast, delta, southern plains, and Pacific regions (fig. 3). The total market FIGURE 3 CHANGE IN DOLLAR VALUE OF FARMLAND 3 0 SART 8 or more U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE NEG. ERS 2206-67 7; ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE value of farm real estate was estimated at $148 billion on July 1, 1963, nearly $9 billion more than a year earlier. The average value per farm advanced to nearly $46,000 as the result of the higher values per acre and the continued increase in average acres per farm. Established farmers seeking additional land to enlarge their present farms continue to bid strongly for the limited acreage of land offered for sale. 5. Farm taxes continue to increase.-Taxes levied on farm real estate increased again in 1962 for the 20th consecutive year. These State and local levies averaged $1.36 per acre, compared with $1.29 in 1961 and $0.69 in 1950 (fig. 4). They amounted to $1.03 per $100 of full value of farm real estate, and absorbed 8.9 percent of farm net income (before payment of taxes and net rent to nonfarm landlords) as compared with 8.6 percent in 1961 and 5.3 percent in 1952-54. The continued uptrend in farm taxes reflects steadily growing demands on State and local governments for more and better public services, especially schools. The added costs fall largely on the property tax. 6. Our 100,000 largest farms.-A special study of the Nation's 102,000 largest farms-those with marketings of $40,000 or more-shows three important facts. First, an increasing proportion of the marketings from all U.S. farms is coming from farms with sales of $40,000 or more: 33 percent in 1959 as compared with 16 percent in 1939. Second, this increase is mainly due to the expanding number of farms in this group rather than to the increasing value of sales per farm. From 1939 to 1959, the number of farms with sales of $40,000 to $99,999 increased 242 percent but their sales per farm increased only 8 percent. For the same period, the number of farms with sales of $100,000 or more increased 300 percent, as compared with a 10-percent increase in marketings per farm. Third, in the $40,000-and-over sales group, family farms in 1959 accounted for 40 percent of all farms compared with 20 percent in 1944 (earlier family farm data not available). Of the 20,000 farms with $100,000 or more marketings in 1959, 11 percent were family farms that accounted for 8 percent of all sales from this group. In 1944, there were no family farms with $100,000 or more of marketings. Of the total marketings of all U.S. farms in 1959, family farms contributed 70 percent, compared with 66.5 percent in 1944. Family farms are more than holding their own in the rapidly changing, highly technological, and increasingly specialized farming in America today. 7. Research aids southeastern grain rate reduction.-In a recent final decision, the Interstate Commerce Commission permitted Southern Railway to reduce freight rates on feed grains shipped into the nine Southeastern States by 53.5 percent, a substantial reduction benefiting both this heavy southern grain importing area and the heavy grain producing areas of the Midwest. The Secretary of Agriculture, as permitted by law, entered the case in support of the applicant. The key issue was the volume of grain moving by unregulated trucks, for which no dependable data are available. On the basis of data, methodology, and testimony of an expert witness supplied by ERS at the Secretary's request, the Commission (a) accepted applicant's estimate that in 1960 more than 6 million tons of feed grain, or 60 percent of the total grain traffic, moved into the Southeast by truck compared with only 700,000 tons in 1955 and (b) officially approved the ERS method for estimating in-shipments by determining grain deficits computed for ERS data on grain-consuming animal units in each affected State. As a result, other railroads are reported to be preparing rate reduction applications using ERS data and methodology. 8. Insurance protection for farmers operating recreational enterprises.-Farmers establishing income producing recreational enterprises often do not realize the legal liability they assume for injury to, or damage to the property of, their customers and others. To provide essential information on this subject to the growing number of rural families operating or considering the establishment of recreational facilities for additional income, a report was prepared explaining (a) the liability involved when farmers operate recreational facilities, such as those sponsored under the rural areas development program, and (b) the type of insurance needed to provide financial protection against lawsuits arising from their use by fee-paying guests, with typical premium costs, by type of activity, and for combinations of activities. A widespread demand for this publication has resulted. Materials were furnished to the three principal casualty insurance rating organizations in aid of their efforts to work out better arangements for insuring recreational enterprises. 9. Weather and crop yields.—In a study of the influence of various factors on corn yields in Iowa, a method was developed by which the effects of weather on aggregate crop yields and production for a State, region, or the Nation as a whole, can be separated with reasonable accuracy from the effects of improved practices and other influences. Such separation is essential for dependable analyses of the impacts of technological advance on agriculture, especially for estimates of future yield trends and production potentials. The method developed is not subject to serious weaknesses inherent in other methods previously used. The Iowa study showed that for the period 1929-60, weather was a comparatively minor influence on aggregate yield variability, having been far overshadowed by the effects of improved varieties, higher plant populations per acre, higher fertilizer use rates, and other improved farm practices. Also, improved technology has reduced yield fluctuations due to weather. The study indicated that Iowa corn yields increased in two steps-the first between 1935 and 1940 as hybrid corn came to be widely adopted, and the second beginning around 1954 due to improved fertilization and other practices. 10. Lake States dairy adjustments.—A regional study of dairy farming in the Lake States has indicated the probable overall impacts if all dairy farms were organized in a manner to maximize farmers' net incomes. The area studied includes major portions of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and smaller portions of Illinois and Iowa. Although fluid milk is supplied to a number of Federal order markets, the Chicago order market dominates much of the area. A considerable part of the milk production in the region goes into production of manufactured milk products including butter, powder, ice cream, and cheese. With some increase in demand probable, and under assumptions of improved technology, full utilization of labor, and use of substantial credit, it would be profitable for Lake States farmers to increase production of milk more than 40 percent by 1965. A substantial increase in milk production would be profitable even with a considerable shift to hog and cattle feeding by farmers in the better soil areas of the region, principally in Illinois, Iowa, and south central Minnesota. In view of a limited demand potential, however, production increases in some parts of the region would need to be offset by decreases in other areas to balance regional supply and demand. The analysis indicates three profitable adjustments to be of major importance in the Lake States dairy region: (a) Grade A producers generally could provide an increased supply of milk as their competitive position in dairying is strong relative to grade B producers. This is true even with a reduction of about a third in the historical price premium of fluid eligible milk over milk used for manufactured products. (b) Many grade B dairy farmers would find it profitable to decrease milk production and increase beef and hog feeding. An increase in these livestock enterprises would also be profitable on some grade A dairy farms in the Corn Belt type soils of the region. (c) An increase in cow quality and herd size would be profitable on those farms staying in dairy production. On larger, better financed farms, a substantial increase in laborsaving loose housing and milking parlor combination would also be a profitable adjustment. Resource development economies research 1. Cropland changes.-The acreage of cropland used for crops in the United States increased from 368 million acres in 1940 to a peak of 387 million acres in 1949. By 1962, land used for crops had dropped to a low of 330 million acres, the smallest since 1910. Significant changes occurred among regions in the amount of land used for crops during this period (fig. 5). During the 1940-49 decade, the northeast, Appalachian, southeast, delta States, and southern plains regions experienced declining cropland acreages even though the use of land for crops in the Nation as a whole was increasing. Since 1949, the use of land for crops has declined by the greatest percentage in the Appalachian and southeast regions. Although the Corn Belt and the northern plains had relatively stable cropland acreages for many years, |