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Show The Platte Valley-an example.-In the Platte River Valley it was found that the economy of the surrounding dry-land agriculture is benefited by the exchange of commodities and services with the irrigation agriculture of the valley. To a limited extent, tracts of dry land are integrated into the operating units of the irrigated valley. The dry- land economy also derives benefits through the com- mercial, professional, and public services which are laregly an outgrowth of the intensive irrigated economy rather than the sparse economy of the dry-land areas. The benefits received indicate only partial interdependence between the dry-land and irrigated farming economies. Much of the dry- land agriculture would be unchanged if irrigation had not been developed. The dry-land wheat farming in western Nebraska and livestock ranching in the nearby Sand Hills are basically sound types of farming for those areas, irrespective of any stabilizing effects of irrigation. The dry-land farming area surrounding the North Platte Valley contributes more to the actual operations of irrigated farms than the valley con- tributes to the operations of ranch and dry-land farms. To the over-all economy of the whole area, however, the contribution of the valley probably exceeds tliat of the dry-land segment. Through the concentration of population, the irrigated part now has various educational, recreational, financial, and other institutional developments which serve and benefit alike both the irrigated and dry-land farmers. Integration of the economy of the irrigated valley with that of the surrounding dry-land country comes about through the use of land, exchange of labor, exchange of livestock, exchange of livestock feed, exchange of farm-produced fertilizers, and the use of mutual markets for crops and livestock. In ad- dition, the dry-farming and irrigation-farming economies are integrated in a less tangible way through educational, recreational, and other public facilities. Some highlights of the specific findings of an investigation made in 1946 by the Bureau of Rec- lamation covering 175 farmers in the Platte River Valley are r (1) The integration between the valley and the surrounding dry-land country comes about largely through the use of a common market for both the purchase and the sale of farm products and for the purchase of consumer goods. (2) Less than 8 percent of the valley farms are full-scale integrated irrigated and dry-land oper- ating units. Only 3 percent of the farms have dry cropland lying outside the project area, and only 5 percent have pasture land outside the project area. (3) Of the valley farm operating units, 15 per- cent rent dry-land pasture for summer grazing out- side of the project by the payment of a specific fee per head, per month. (4) Livestock-feeding operations were under- taken by 40 percent of the valley farmers in 1946. This exceeds in importance the integration within operating units. (5) The cash-crop and livestock-feeding type of economy in the valley encourages integration with the economy of the surrounding dry land. Un- availability of pasture to the valley farmers means that most feeder stock must be bought from dry- land farmers. Moreover, feeding operations pro- vide dry-land farmers with a good market for any surplus feed. (6) Livestock feeders in the valley raise only 2 percent of their feeder cattle and less than 1 per- cent of their feeder sheep. Within a 50-mile radius, they obtain directly from ranchers 15 percent of their cattle and 2 percent of their sheep. From beyond a 50-mile radius, they obtain directly from ranchers 13 percent of their feeder cattle and 84 percent of their sheep. (7) The valley feeders bought nearly half their grain requirements, including beet pulp, and more than one-third of their hay and roughage, includ- ing dried beet tops and wet beet pulp. Six percent of the corn purchased came from nearby dry-land farms and 83 percent from central and eastern Nebraska. Of the barley purchased, 33 percent came from surrounding dry-land farms. (8) Virtually none of the feed produced in the valley was bought by dry-land operators. During drought years, however, some feed was obtained from the valley to maintain breeding herds of dry- land units, and wintering of range cattle in the irrigated project was common. (9) Many dry-land farmers bring their trucks to the valley every fall to assist with the beet harvest, and nearly one-third of the laborers in the sugar factories each fall and winter come from surround- ing dry-land farms. This exchange of labor, although not very large, is a significant aspect of in- tegration and might be the phase of integration which would have a telling influence on the econo- my of the dry land during prolonged periods of drought. 224 |
