Tom,
Your Father was a REAL conservationist. He practiced "Husbandry",
the wise use of resources.
Agribusiness Corporations have driven that term out of our modern
vocabulary.
Bryan
Tom Bryant wrote:
> List,
>
> I haven't been on the farm since I was able to escape just after marriage in
> 1951. When I was home, I don't think we ever did receive any government
> subsides. My father was a conservationist, even during WW2, when most
> everyone else was depleting their soil growing corn. He rotated crops and
> planted the hill ground on the contour. We walked every row of corn cutting
> weeds. In the pasture, we cut sunflowers with a corn knife, grubbed out
> coffee bean bushes, and any missed cocklebur plant found when picking corn
> was put in the wagon, carefully picking up any burrs that were on the
> ground.
>
> Although I don't necessarily agree with the program, allowing land lay idle
> is one way of controlling surplus. It also encourages taking better care of
> the land. If memory serves me correctly, it was required to keep the idle
> ground mowed and you could not let stock graze on it. Unfortunately, the big
> corporate farms were the real winners in this program.
>
> Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/FCC
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