On Tue, 11 Sep 2001, James R. Frysinger wrote:
> ... are we all about converting land areas or farmers?
Jim,
Please accept my digression this day from tragic events beyond our
control. We must sooner or later recover from a state of shock.
Most of the rural paved roads in Illinois are along "section" boundaries
at intervals of as many as two or three statute miles, but mostly every
statute mile. Therefore, another ice age will be necessary to clear the
slate (state) of this physical establishment of the statute mile as the
most visible unit of length (from aircraft) in rural Illinois.
However, farmers and agrobusinesses could easily adopt SI for all measured
quantities involved in farming if they had the will to do so.
The World Book of Facts (WBF) already publishes agriculture data
almost exclusively in SI for primary use by members of Congress and
by Executive Branch officials.
A remaining task is to persuade creators of USDA Web pages to do the same,
to use SI preferentially (first) if not exclusively, in compliance with
Executive Order 12770, and in harmony with the WBF.
> ... in the 50s, my grandfather stuck to grain production on his
> ~10-15 ha of arable land.
My grandfather used *literal horsepower* to pull his machinery for
the first half of his farming career, and gasoline+kerosene tractors
for the second half. He died in 1948, but his "family farm" had died
several years earlier. My uncle continued the herd of dairy cows but
had already phased out the other "family farm" components.
"Family Farms" do survive in Amish communities in parts of PA, OH, IL,
and a few other states, still powered by horses or mules, but they are
usually operated by large (or extended) families, not just by mom & pop.
Gene.
