We’ve all grown accustomed to, and now depend on, the Internet and our cell phones for all types of information. Websites, blogs, podcasts, apps, and other digital content are available. Digital agriculture has opened up new management tools for progressive farmers. All these advancements have allowed for the exponential availability of information for growers, which is now the norm in agriculture and our society.
However, as we know this was not the case 100 years ago. The 1925 Agricultural Yearbook from the United States Department of Agriculture stated, “The department made its first experiment with radio in 1920. Since then there has been a great development in the use by farmers of this new means of communication.” The text described the rapid adoption and purchase of radio sets on farms and the farmers’ evident appreciation of the broadcasts.
The text continued, “The colleges are becoming enthusiastic users of radio. They cooperate with the Department of Agriculture in broadcasting its weather, crop, and market reports.” It concluded by saying, “Many farmers have more than saved the price of their radio sets by profit gained by the use of market information issued by the department for broadcasting.” The writers touted justification for buying a radio.
Many market information sources are out there today, and each farmer must decide which source(s) they utilize and trust. However, think about what it must have been like to wait for a live radio broadcast to get information about current weather, crop conditions, livestock inventories, or a market report.
Until the 1920s, local farmer meetings, farm organizations, county agents, and print media played important roles, and they continue to play important roles today. Newspapers and farm periodicals of the era relayed facts of agriculture to farmers. One early example was the Orange Judd Farmer, published in the latter 1800s through the early 1900s for distribution in the Midwest (then called the Central West). A curious irony in my family lineage is that my great-grandfather’s first and middle names were “Orange Judd.” As the story goes, his parents were so fond of the periodical that they named their child after it. He typically went by “O.J.” I’ve never met another person named Orange.
On the subject of market news, the Agricultural Yearbook reported, “The extension services of the department and the States have assisted in the distribution of all types of economic information. A general quickened interest has been reflected by the extension workers in all subjects.”
The Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service (Purdue Extension) strives always to be a reliable source of research-based information that is trustworthy. For current marketing and other farm management information, go to the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture website at: https://ag.purdue.edu/commercialag/home/.