Chapter XXV
THE NUMBER AND SIZES OF FARMS
IN POLK COUNTY-1910-1958
It is quite impossible to make direct comparisons in the number of farms of the different farm acreages through the years due
to the changes in base acreages used by the census bureaus
through the various census reports. The U . S. Census Reports,
however, do give valuable data that can be used directly such as,
number of farms, percentage of land in farms, average size of
farms. Even though the acreage listings of the various sized farms
vary in the census reporting, certain general conclusions can be
drawn which indicate trends in farm sizes.
The total land area of Polk County , 1,979 square miles,
makes a total land acreage of 1,226,560 acres. In 1910 only 72.3
per cent or 888,852 acres were in the 3 ,525 farms of the county.
By 1920, 1,069,153 acres or 84.4 per cent of the county was in
the 4,200 farms of that year. In 1920, 15.5 per cent of the farms
were under 100 acres in size and such farms occupied only 3.2 per
cent of the land in farms. In 1950, 36 per cent of the farms were
100 acres or less, they occupied, however , only 6.2 per cent of the
area in farms that year.
During the period of 1944 to 1958, the number of farms up
to 100 and 200 acres began to decrease, as the size of farms increased and the number of farms decreased. Beginning with and
immediately following World War II, through the use of mechanized equipment, such as bulldozers, additional crop land was
put in cultivation and also the total area in farm lands increased
up to 1,190,523 acres.
The average size of farms increased from the 254 acres in
1920 to 302.2 acres in 1950 and 352.3 acres in 1954. The number
of farmers operating 1,000 acres or more increased from the 27
" Bonanza Farms" of the early 1900's to 83 in 1940, 90 in 1948
and 115 in 1950. The glamour of the "Bonanza Farms" of the
period, 1900-1915, with its fifteen to thirty teams of horses, its
horse-drawn equipment, has been lost in the mechanized 1950's.
With the passing of the horse-drawn binders, shock threshing,
threshing rings, steam threshers, has also gone, in part at least,
a spirit of community cooperation which helped enrich farm
living, the grass roots of democracy.
The trend in sizes of farms appears to be toward the more
efficient units whereby maximum efficiency and the longest period
of service can be had from the high priced mechanized equipment. The 1950's mark the period of changes and readjustments
for the farming enterprise. Our concepts of farm buildings has
changed from the costly weather-tight barns, ornate barn equipment, to the loafing barn for the dairy cows, efficient farrowing
house for the brood sows and the elimination entirely of the
horse barn. The loafing barn, milking parlor, the cooling tank
and modern milk handling equipment does not spell doom for
the dairy farmer but a re-adjustment of overhead expense-the
putting of the money that went into the high priced barn into
sanitary equipment for handling milk and the year around use
for some of the high priced mechanized equipment already on
the farm. Re-adjustments must be made in handling other kinds
of livestock and poultry whereby maximum efficiency can be
obtained in order to compete for markets for our products.
In crops , with decreasing prices in prospect, farmers of Polk
County are already meeting the challenge by the intelligent use
of fertilizers, weed control, growing better varieties of crops, better
grading of products and selling what the market demands.
Intregration in the future may playa small part in the production of wealth in Polk County but the competance and independence of the Polk County farmer insures his place in the
agricultural economy of our nation for a long time to come.
Table
INCOME FROM POLK COUNTY FARMS INTO 1950
Income from All Farms
(3, 876 )
Income
No. of
Farms
No Sales
$1.00 to $249
$250 to $399
$400 to $599
$600 to $999
$1,000 to $1,499
$1,500 to $2,409
$2,500 to $3,999
$4,000 to $5,999
$6,000 to $9,999
$10,000 $or Over
25
73
55
64
263
287
585
781
759
437
547
Income from Commercial Farms
(3,589)
Class
Income
No. of
Farms
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
$25,000 or More
110
$10,000 to 24,999
432
$5,000 to $9,999
747
$2,500 to $4,999 1,230
$1,200 to $2,499
710
$ 250 to $1,199
360
3,589
3,876
Crookston is the financial center of Polk County. Its three
banks, the First National , Polk County State and Crookston
National, have assets totalling more than $16,000,000.00. Th e
largest individual bank in the county is the First National of
East Grand Forks, organized in 1929 with some $7,000,000.00 in
assets. The First National and Polk County State banks of
Crookston follow with each bank having assets of some $6,500,000.00.
The oldest bank in the county is the First National of
Crookston organized in September 1881, which has been in contiuous operation since that date.