To and from the Farm.
—Farm trucking seems to be firmly established and very much if not all farm hauling will eventually be done by automobiles. Very many farmers now own their own trucks and the number is constantly being increased. Glowing statements by government officials, reports of investigational committees, and propaganda by manufacturers and dealers have worked up the farmers’ desire for trucks. A congressional joint committee on agricultural inquiry has recently stated that,
No single development since the railroads were first constructed has had so marked an economic and sociological effect upon productive life as the motor vehicle. Previous to its appearance the economic zone of transportation was sharply defined by the haulage range of the horse and the cost of such transportation.
There is the evidence of no less a person than Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover that the farm motor truck will be of vast importance to the agricultural interests of the country. Here is his statement:
Fifty per cent of our perishable foodstuffs never reach the consumer because the farms on which they are raised are too remote from the market at which they are sold.... Forty to 60 per cent of our potato crop is lost each year by rotting in the ground owing to poor transportation to market because of inadequate transportation over long distance.... By motor trucks the farmer will be able to reach better markets farther away than now by horse and wagon. He will be able to spend more time actually producing on his farm and be able to sell food more cheaply by eliminating the present tremendous waste. By use of the motor truck the farmer will be able to produce more and sell at less cost.
Some of the arguments advanced in favor of the farm truck are:
(a) The motor truck allows the farmer to haul larger loads, longer distances in less time, thus reducing the actual cost of haulage.
(b) That he can better take advantage of market fluctuations and thus be able to sell at high markets.
(c) That a truck on the farm will replace several horses; that the cost of keeping these horses far exceeds the cost of keeping a truck.
(d) That the truck may be used to market produce while the horses are busy in the field.
(e) That the truck will allow land otherwise too far from market to be farmed with perishable but better paying crops.
(f) By means of trucks the farmer is often enabled to put his hogs or other live stock on the early morning market in less time from the farm and consequently fresher, gaining the advantage of better prices.
While there may be some question as to the validity of all these assumptions they are no doubt, in the main, correct. The United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Crop Estimates, collected data showing that in 1918, the hauling in wagons from farm to shipping point cost on the average for wheat 30 cents per ton-mile; for corn, 33 cents; for cotton, 48 cents. For hauling by motor truck the average costs were: wheat, 15 cents; corn, 15 cents; and cotton, 18 cents. These unit costs were, consequently, reduced to less than half by the use of the truck. The same bulletin gives the average length of wagon haul for these products to be 9 miles, and of motor truck haul, 11.3 miles; furthermore the average number of round trips by wagon per day was 1.2 while by truck it was 3.4.
Whether or not the truck on the farm will release any horses will depend on what determines the number of horses kept. To do his hauling does the farmer keep more than is necessary for farm operations alone? The passenger automobile, no doubt, did release many driving and riding horses, but will the truck release many more? The thoughtful, foresighted farmer usually plans his yearly work so that he may do his hauling when the horses are not otherwise busy. This of course limits his farm operation to products which, like wheat and corn, can be stored indefinitely. This limits also diversified cropping which farmers find in the long run to be very much safer than “putting all eggs in one basket” by raising a single product. It is seldom that a wheat crop, a corn crop, a beet crop, a hay crop, an apple crop, and gardening crops all fail by drought, wet weather, hail, or other untoward events during the same season. Good roads, trucks or anything else which will lend assistance to diversified cropping are without doubt beneficial to the farmer.
Intensive farming of perishable crops can be done only where the roads allow daily contact with the market. The truck, because of its more rapid speed, will widen the zone of such farming very much over the old zone when the horse-drawn vehicle was in vogue. Because of the risk involved and the labor necessary the net returns per acre for this sort of farming are high, allowing small parcels of land to keep a family. As the distance, or rather time, the “fourth dimension,” from market increases the less intensive the farming operations and the less net returns per acre. The community as a whole is deeply interested in widening the zone of intensive farming in order that more people may profitably make a living upon this land.
Persons who are not familiar with stockyard activities will be surprised on visiting them early in the morning at any one of the packing-house industries to see the large number of hogs and other farm animals arriving for the early market in motor trucks. These animals have been brought from distances up to 60 miles, but have been on the way less than three or three and one-half hours. Careful stockyard figures show that in 1921 more than 6,000,000 cattle and very many more hogs were transported in motor trucks. These animals upon arrival are very much fresher and show less shrinkage than those that have been driven to their home station and loaded into stock cars the day previous. Other things being equal, the top of the market is accorded to the fresher animals. Also for short hauls, say up to 60 miles, the transportation costs are in favor of the trucks.
The farmer may obtain the benefits of motor transportation in at least four different ways: (a) He may own and operate his own truck. This pays when the farm is of sufficient size to keep the truck reasonably busy. (b) Two or more neighbors may coöperate in the ownership of a truck. This is applicable to small and medium-sized farms. (c) By patronizing truck lines privately owned which haul products, freight, and express upon a charge basis. (d) By the trucks of the United States Postal Service.
Whether or not it pays for a farmer to own and operate a truck depends upon the size of the farm, kind and quantity of the commodities hauled, distance from market, character of the roads, and the loading on the back trip. A small farm could not be expected to furnish sufficient hauling to keep a truck busy unless intensively farmed and producing commodities which require frequent marketing. Even a small farmer, though, might by hauling for neighbors keep his truck reasonably busy. Or several neighbors may coöperate in the purchase of the truck and arrange how it shall be operated. They may even form an express line and go into the transportation business as a side issue.
The parcel-post service has been very successful in handling packages of produce even as large as a case of eggs. The post-office department allows its carriers to pick up and deliver packages along the route the same as letter mail. Privately owned Rural Motor Express vehicles are also operated successfully which pick up and deliver all sorts of express packages, farm produce in small quantities, fruit, butter, eggs, and cream. Trucks which haul nothing but milk and cream are quite common. The farmer leaves his full cans of milk or cream at a specified place, usually a platform at a level with the truck floor, on the roadway. The driver of the milk truck picks up the full cans, leaving empties in their place. Or he may pick up the full on his way to the market, creamery, or railway station, and leave the empties on his return. Such routes are both privately owned and coöperatively owned by the several farmers patronizing them. Often these trucks deliver the milk and cream to the railway in time to catch a special milk train into the city.
HAULING BEANS BY MOTOR TRUCK AND TRAILER
Sacramento Valley, Calif.
HAULING SUGAR BEETS TO MARKET IN A MOTOR TRUCK
Since the trucks come directly to the farmer’s gate to pick up and deliver express or freight, the convenience is much greater than the service given by either the steam railway or the interurban trolley. As a result the trucks will probably be patronized when the railways would not. The habit of sending eggs, cream, and other perishable products daily to the market is formed. The daily credit the farmer receives amounts to a considerable sum by the end of the month when he collects from the dealer. Many farmers much more than pay living expenses from the sale of small items utterly ignored before the days of the motor express.[169] Even the farmer who owns his own truck could hardly afford a daily trip of several miles and the time entailed to market small amounts of cream, eggs, vegetables, and fruits, but the express man by combining the incoming and outgoing commodities of many farms can without much expense to anyone do a very good business for himself at an economic benefit to his patrons.
If the farmer, or several farmers, desire to purchase a truck it would be well first carefully to consider the question with an idea of finding out the character and amount of trucking at hand and then purchase a machine best adapted for the purpose. The kind of bodies available should be studied, remembering that he may wish to haul grain on one trip, hogs or sheep on another, then cream and vegetables. He will want, probably, to haul back groceries, flour, feed, lumber, hardware, implements, fertilizer, cement, and gravel. In looking ahead he should estimate the increase in the quantity of hauling that more rapid transportation, the going to more distant markets, and the possible raising of different products which may come about through the owning of a truck, will bring to his farm. In this connection the reader is referred to the chapters on “[Highway Transport Surveys]” and “[Effects of the Ease and Cost of Transportation on Production and Marketing],” given later.