Every man who has gone to war must have thought more deeply than ever before about his country and its many problems. He comes home, perhaps, with many changed points of view. Naturally he desires to play a part in refashioning the spirit or the customs or practices, and even the institutions of this country. There is no more effective place in which to do this than in the schoolroom through the continuous everyday influence which the teacher brings to bear upon the lives of young people.
PLAN No. 1103. FARM MANAGEMENT AS A VOCATION
Acknowledgment
This monograph was prepared by Dr. Walter J. Quick, Special Agent for the Federal Board for Vocational Education, under the direction of Charles H. Winslow, Chief of the Division of Research. Acknowledgment is due E. H. Thomson, Acting Chief, and Dr. E. V. Wilcox, agriculturist of the Office of Farm Management, United States Department of Agriculture, for suggestions and data, also to Dr. John Cummings, of the Research Division, for editorial assistance.
If you have been asking yourself the question, “Can I now with my disability undertake to manage a farm on business principles and expect to make a financial success of it?” you will be interested to learn that farm management is one of the most important training courses offered you by the Federal Board for Vocational Education.
Upon good business management depends success in farming, that most important industry in the United States—the industry which many of you boys returning from the war will wish to enter, the one which needs you perhaps more than any other, and in which you may expect to earn ample rewards through scientific methods.
Farm management has been defined as “the science of organization and management of farm enterprise for the purpose of securing the greatest continuous profit.” It is the business end of farming. It deals with farm organization, methods, accounts, and credits, and is, therefore, of interest to all classes of farmers, including owners, managers, and tenants.
Business Methods Pay
In agricultural affairs as they have been carried on, the lack of business methods has been amazing. Absolute mismanagement has frequently been the principal cause of discouragement, failure, and abandonment of farms. This influence has prevented many from taking up farming, but one who has a genuine love for the farm and who has or can get some practical experience on the farm may take a course of intensive study in farming and farm management under the direction of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and then develop into a successful farm manager. The candidate must not forget, however, that farm management is a profession, and that a person without experience should not expect to become a successful farm manager in a few weeks by taking a short course at some agricultural school. What is worth getting requires time and effort in this as well as in other things.
Many who have felt full confidence in farming, and have invested their money in it and applied business principles to it, have proved that the same measure of success will attend farming under business management as attends other industries when properly managed. Tens of thousands of farmers in the United States have demonstrated this by earning substantial profits.