Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
What do farmers think about farming? Viewing the question broadly, do farmers and their families farm from choice or are they victims of circumstances? Is there a difference in their attitude toward farming as a business and as a mode of living? In the opinion of farmers, what trends or factors in farm life are giving the most concern? Are farm people satisfied to remain on the farm? Will the next generation remain there? In attempting to find at least a partial answer to these and other related questions, the writer is not propounding his own theories of the situation or even venturing an interpretation. He has simply tried by the survey method to faithfully record the opinions of the 150 farm families living in Orland and Clarno Townships, Lake County, South Dakota. The area selected for this study was necessarily small in size but fairly typical of east central South Dakota conditions. In topography, climate, soil, type of farming, land values, farm population and rural social institutions, this part of Lake County is thought to be a fair sample of the east central portion of the state
