Electricity on Farms in Northwestern Washington

Excerpts from the report: Little information has been available until recently concerning uses of electricity, either in homes or on farms. Specifically, little is known as to the uses of electricity as related to the economic characteristics of farms; as to factors affecting the extent of use; as to changes in farm organization made as a result of availability of electric energy; and as to the cost of electricity to farmers. Information relating to these questions is needed if farmers and farm leaders are to keep abreast of modern developments in agricultural production. The information is needed also to provide a better basis for the extension of distribution lines into rural areas and for adjusting system design to meet the requirements of the area to be served. Finally, information is needed to indicate probable future growth in the use of electricity on farms as a part of the over-all planning process for adequate generating, transmission, and distribution facilities. Studies to provide needed information were begun in 1947 in various type-of-farming areas of the country covering a variety of conditions. This report deals with the economic aspects of the use of electricity in an area predominantly devoted to dairy production. Among the objectives of the study in northwestern Washington were determinations of the specific applications of electric energy on farms as related to the economic characteristics of these farms, of the historical trend both annual and seasonal, of the consumption of electric energy by types and sizes of farms and by economic land use classes, and an analysis of the cost of using electricity on farms.