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<br />Agriculture
<br />
<br />1'111." Big Blue River Ba<;in Iil."s In a
<br />transition;.!] lOnt' bdwl'cn tht' Corn Bl'll on
<br />the ea~t and the Ccntral Great Plains on the
<br />wcst. Farms afl.' moslly Jiwrsjfil'd family.
<br />-Si,l' units. TIll' lack of ;u.k'qllah' rainfall in
<br />some years ha... l'n~'ollrageJ l;'X lenSI\'l' pri....ate
<br />irrigation development in till' basin fl'sulting
<br />in till' \.'st;Jhlishrnent of ("om a... the most
<br />importanl crop. y,-ilh IlJilo and will'at being
<br />Inlportant drylanJ l'rops. Lin-stock produc-
<br />tion accounts for over h31f of rhe gross farm
<br />s.ales of f:ITllh..rs in the basin and is an
<br />increasingly imporlant source of farm in-
<br />come as exhibiteu by the figures ill TJbk'
<br />I ~.
<br />
<br />Ih.. nI.'l income of farm familks in
<br />thc Big Hlul.' Basin has historir.:ally bt'en
<br />somewhat below nonfarm inr.:ome in the
<br />b3sin anu in othl'r ar~'as. but quite similar to
<br />farm income in othl'r parts of the stat~' :lI1U
<br />nation. Thi... points out thc charact~'ristic low
<br />incumc prubk'ms :ls'>ociatcd with thl;' agricul-
<br />tural industry.
<br />
<br />As UiSl'lISSl'U previously, employml'nt
<br />in agriculture has ueclil1l'u sh'adily in till'
<br />past, caused by the substitution of tl'ch-
<br />nology for labur and I Ill' resulting incrl'asl.'s
<br />in f,lrm Si/C, AgrkulturJI ~'mploymenl l'om-
<br />rOSl'u ont'-half of till' working force in 1940
<br />compared to arrroximatl'ly one-thinl in
<br />19(,0.
<br />
<br />The dCl'line In farm numbl'rs and the
<br />rl'.;,ulting increase in farm sizt'o not lInlih>
<br />Jgrkulturc in most arCJs. is ;llso apparent in
<br />the Big Blllt' Basin. The average f:mn <iize
<br />anJ numba of farm.;, in the b;Jsin. as shown
<br />in Table I J. have l1lad~' uynamic changes in
<br />the twenty years SInCl' 1944. The lotal
<br />number of f:lrms hJS ut'r.:rt"ased from 13.40~
<br />in 1944 to 9.540 in I %4 and tht' 3vt"rJge
<br />farm sih' has incr~'ast'd from ~ I ~ acres in
<br />1444 10 301 :lert'S in 1964.lbl Improved
<br />agrkultmal lechnology has plJyt.'d a major
<br />role In thi-- c11angt' and is expt.'cted to
<br />continue (0 bt' a prime f:.H:tor.
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