Seedtime and Harvest Today

Excerpts from the report: Seedtime and harvest have always been the peak seasons for farm labor, whether done by men and horses or by men and machines; and the approximate dates of these activities are of vital concern to many. But now, with war pressing hard upon our whole economic life, they become of even more critical immediate import. The plans of farmers, farm laborers, employment agencies, transportation systems, markets, and commercial concerns that buy and sell in farm areas are often drawn with the harvest seasons particularly in mind. Now, more than ever before, we need to take account of such circumstances if we are to attain that full production which is our goal. A marked present departure from past conditions during these seasons has to do with farm laborers and their families. Here, again, war, with its drain on manpower for all purposes, adds emphasis to a peacetime trend. Several circumstances, even before this country entered the war, had reduced the need for laborers in farm planting and harvesting work in which vast numbers were formerly employed. This publication takes special note of these changed conditions.