Image provided by: Beaverton City Library; Beaverton, OR
About The Beaverton enterprise. (Beaverton, Or.) 1927-1951 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1950)
/ ». T ualatin V alley FARM NEWS BONNEVILLE POWER LOOP There’s more power tonight, out of Forest Grove! Say« the NEWS TIMES, final construction on the addition of a new 115,000 volt Forest Grove-Mc- Minnville transmission line was completed for dedication cere monies January 6. The new transmission facilities, j Ln addition to boosting service for the two cities named, will mean more power for southwestern Ore gon through a third high voltage line to Salem. Power may now be fed to McMinnville and Forest Grove from either St. Johns or Salem substations, which will prac- tically eliminate the incidence of power outages, the story says. JAN. 16 SEE OUR NEW ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE PICTURE "WHAT'S NEW IN JOHN DEERE FARM EQUIPMENT" and other new interesting and educational pictures Hessel's Tractor & Equipment Co 121 S. E. Morrison St „Portland, Oregon ROBIN Agriculture Leads As New Wealth Source For County SIXTEEN AND ONE HALF MILLION 1949 INCOME INDICATES STORY OF BETTER FARMING RETURN By Palmer S. Torvend. County Agent Washington County’s basic new wealth producing industry, agricul ture, produced an income of over sixteen and one half million in 1949. This figure is the cash income of the farmers for their produce and does not include off-fa i m pro cessing. For comparison, the 1926- 1930 period had an average of five million and the 1936-1940 period five and three quarters million. Although farmers are enjoying better net returns than they did a few years back, it must also be noted that consumers are also pay ing less to the farmers from the wage dollar for food than ever be fore. It must also be emphasized that many famers operated in the red during the good part of the late 20’s and during the 30’s. Better farm return is not only making for better life on the farms in Washington County, but is also reflecting to the city folks. Agri culture is by far the leading source of new wealth in Washington County. Therefore, the urban and city folks serving the area are basically dependent on agriculture. Business is not self sufficient, but is a link in the production chain. According to the 1945 census, Washington County’s 4,519 farms which produce agricultural pro ducts average 50 acres. This in dicates how wide-spread this ag ricultural return is, and secondly, the efficiency of products on the average farm in the county. Farm ers are each year producing great er yields and production per acre which, in addition to better prices, has helped bring up the total in come. Washington County is made up of a few large and many very small farms containing less than 20 acres, thus explaining the av erage a little further. The main agricultural enterprise in Washington County is dairying, which accounts for approximately 25% of the county's income. Horti cultural products account for some 23%. poultry 13%. seed crops 10% truck, grain and hay and general livestock make up the balance. A summary of practices which have increased the agricultural in- come of the County through great er production, includes, on the part of the dairyman, increased produc tion per cow through product test ing in the County D.H.I.A., select ing better breeding stock and cull ing of lower producers and more recently, artificial Insemination. In addition, dairymen have shifted from the practice of feeding high- er priced ready-mix feeds to more roughage, such as improved crop land pastures, grass silage and hay. age has been markedly increased by the use of barn yard and com mercial fertilizers. In the field of horticulture, grow ers are doing more to control pests and insects of their crops, improv ing the fertility of their soils through cover crops and fertilizing and removing the horticultural crops from unsuited soil which is being planted to other crops bet ter suited to the shallow or poorly drained soils. Poultry producers are using bet ter management practices. Seed producers in exercising weed con trol practices have eliminated crop competition, thus making for high er yield per acre. Farmers general ly throughout the county are using more and more irrigation. The conservation of farm-pro duced fertilizer is receiving more attention, as noted by the construc tion of liquid manure tanks. Farm ers have also learned that the limited summer water supply can be extended through the construc tion of small storage reservoirs which are supplementing the al ready limited irrigation water sup ply. More of these storage ponds will be built in the coming year. Other factors, in addition to im proved agricultural pt actices which have contributed to the better farm dollar income, have been in fluenced by inflation. This has hit the farmer from both increased return and increased farmer pro duction costs. Farm machinery, labor i and ever-increasing taxes are some of these factors, and these will continue to make farm ing generally a highly competitive business. It is interesting to note that over the nation as a whole, fewer farmers are producing more agri cultural products each year, which BEAVERTON ENTERPRISE -Friday, January 13, ceive little more than labor returns. This is particularly true of crops such as grain. The livestock, poultry, horticul I is a definite indication of the ture and cat tain field-crop business mechanization that is taking place of Washington county experienced ; in agriculture. reductions in unit return during Taxes of fatm land in the coun- the past season Some of this was ' ty now are commonly as much as accentuated by the fact that sup I rental operators used to pay for port prices on certain basic com the use of the land in the 1930’s. modities maintained the price of Increased land value also enters feed at a high level In comparsion the picture, particularly when a to the value of the product pro- farm operator is figuring interest ‘ duced on his Investment, which any good On the brighter side of the pic- businessman must do. ture, we have an increase in pop- When figuring interest on land ulation, which means more de- investment, plus taxes and other niand for agricultural products, investments necessary to produce provided they have the dollars to a crop on that land, the agricultural spend. This increase in population income per acre must remain very is expected to continue for several high. Otherwise, farmers years. The truest and surest way in which we can serve our fellowmen is not so much to do anything for them, as to be the very truest purest, noblest being we know how. Frances P. Gobbe DANCE Kinton Grange Music by Melody Aces JANUARY 14 Admission—74c; HOOD THEATER 1:30 P- M. MONDAY, JANUARY 16TH SHERWOOD, OREGON T TWO FREE In this less than 2% of the average family’« budget goes for ELECTRICITY Public Lectures Oil CHRISTIAN SCIENCE bv * HERSCHEL P. NUNN. C. S. B Portland. Oregon MONDAY EVENING. JANUARY 16 at <» o’clock in the edifice of Sixth Church of Christ, Srirnti-t 1331 S. W. Park Avenue. Portland RADIOCAST OVER KW.I.J. 1080 k< • F • Subject; • < KRISTIAN SCIENI I \XI> Illi. Bl SI- NESS OF LIA ING” TUESDAY EVENING. JANUARY 17 at o o’clock in the edifice of Sixth Church of (Jirist. Scientist, 1331 S. W. Park Avenue, Portland THIS LECTTRE WILL NOT BE BROADCAST Subject; “CHRISTIAN SCIENCE; THE WAY OF MAVS DELIVERANCE FROM EVII i The Public in Otrtiialiv Invited AAost luxuries are expensive. But here the luxurious convenience of electrical living is just about the least expensive item in the family budget! In the average household of this area a third of the budget is spent on food, 19% on housing, 19% on recreation and miscellaneous, 13% on clothing, 8% on transportation, 6% for medical care—but less than 2% for electricity. Yet PGE customers use electricity abundantly —in fact they use 3 to 4 limes as much as the national average! Unlike many things, PGE electricity has become less, rather than more, expensive over the years. Rates have been cut 16 times, increased only once, in the last quarter century. Average cost per kilowatt hour is less than half the national average. Yes, the luxury of PGE electricity represents real value . . . your biggest bargain . . . and PGE intends to keep it that way. PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1950 ©I (Inc. Tax)
