Farmer Is Limited by Conditions in Community

The average farmer is limited in the changes he can make in his
farm business by the farm practices of the community in which he
is living.

There are farmers in every community who would like to change
their systems of agriculture but are restrained from doing so by
the fact that their neighbors will not change. Many farmers have
tried to change from one type of farming to another better suited
to the region, but failed because the cost of running such an
entirely independent business was too great.

A man owning an orchard in a locality where there are no other
orchards has trouble getting rid of his crop. Even when the farmer
is so fortunate as to get buyers, he generally receives a lower
price for the same grade of fruit than would be received in a
general apple-growing region.

If a man wants to buy several purebred Holstein cows, he generally
goes to a locality where a large number of farmers keep that kind
of stock. Often there is a man in his own community who has for
sale Holsteins that are just as highly bred as those in other
districts, but he either has no market for them or must sell them
at a greatly reduced price.

The farmer ought not to think on account of these facts that he
should not change his system of farming just because his neighbors
do not do likewise.