University of Virginia Library

Food Production Goals

National goals for the production of food in 1942, the largest in
the history of American agriculture to that time, were nineteen per
cent higher than the 1935–1939 average. They provided for greatly
increased acreages of soybeans and peanuts to meet the shortage of
vegetable oil, which had previously been imported from the Philippines,
and they called for expansion in dairy products, livestock,
and vegetable crops. Albemarle County farmers were to produce
greater quantities of each of these last three types of food and were
to grow 270 acres of soybeans besides in 1942.[2]

Goals for 1943 represented a one per cent increase over 1942.
Greater quantities of livestock, cheese, skim milk, and vegetable crops
were needed for military consumption and shipment under Lend-Lease;
more peanuts and fewer soybeans were asked. Seventy-five
per cent of the year's food production was allocated to the civilian
population of the United States, thirteen per cent to the armed forces,
which numbered 7,000,000 at the beginning of 1943, ten per cent
to the allies through Lend-Lease, and two per cent to United States
territories. Albemarle County was to produce nine per cent more
milk, three and five-tenths per cent more eggs, one per cent more
sows to farrow, eighty-five per cent more soybeans (contrary to the
national pattern), and nine-tenths of one per cent more Irish potatoes.[3]

As labor on the farms grew scarcer and still further increases in
the production of food were necessary, the national goals for 1944

were directed toward better use of land; a higher production per acre
and per animal unit, rather than an increase in acreage, was sought.
Feed grains and forage crops were to be planted in greater quantities
than before; this meant more plantings of alfalfa, legumes, and corn
hybrids. Goals for the last year of the war were similar to those of
1944, with again an added increase.[4]

The beginning of the war found the majority of Albemarle farmers
practicing general farming for the cultivation of grains, hay, and
pasture crops for dairy herds and beef cattle, hogs, horses, poultry,
and sheep. The fruit growers held orchards which provided a substantial
portion of the county's agricultural income. Albemarle led
the counties of Virginia in peach production, and its annual average
crop of Carmens, Elbertas, and Georgia Belles was 170,000 bushels.
Several varieties of apples were grown, including Winesaps, Stark's
Delicious, Stayman Winesaps, and Albemarle Pippins. Scattered
throughout the county were several breeders of beef cattle raising
Herefords and Angus. In addition to the dairy farms in the county,
two of the larger dairy industries in the state, the Elliott Ice Company
and the Monticello Dairy, Incorporated, were located in Charlottesville.
About forty per cent of the county was in woodland,
a profitable source of forest products.[5]

The cooperation of the crop farmers, fruit growers, livestock raisers,
and dairymen in attaining the goals fixed for each of the war
years constitutes a remarkable record. “Is there any single industry
in the nation that increased production with similar restrictions and
less labor?”, asked T. O. Scott, county agent for the Extension
Service in Albemarle. When the men left for the armed services,
women assumed unaccustomed farm duties and were frequently seen
driving tractors in the fields of the county. Foreign and migratory
labor was employed. Trucks, combines, machinery, and tools were
shared generously. And trained agriculturists representing various
government agencies contributed their specialized knowledge of methods
for increasing production.[6]