University of Virginia Library

Some Overall Observations

A few overall wartime trends in Albemarle County agriculture
may be summarized. The number of farms was 2,599 in 1945 and
had increased by only eight since 1940. But the total value of all
their products harvested had almost trebled, growing from $1,880,619
in 1940 to $5,504,494 in 1945. The average value of their
total annual produce, exclusive of that eaten by farm animals, had
jumped from about $911 per farm to $1,981. Since the physical
volume of products had been expanded by only something like thirty
or forty per cent at most, these figures reflect the inflationary price
spiral which characterized the nation's economy more than they constitute
a true measure of increased production or an accurate index
to the prosperity of Albemarle County farmers.

The number of full owners of farms increased from 1,987 in
1940 to 2,118 in 1945, and accordingly the number of tenants decreased
from 411 to 285 and part owners from 131 to 113. While
838 farms had electricity in 1940, a total of 1,192 enjoyed the
privileges of electrification in 1945. Hired laborers numbering 1,776
in 1939 were paid $722,468 in cash wages, but in sharp contrast
711 laborers in 1944 were paid cash wages of $1,148,311. The
following table classifies the seven leading types of Albemarle County
farms in the order of the total value of their products, exclusive of
what was fed to their own livestock or used for seed:

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Desirable farms were in active demand during the war, according
to local realtors, who said they found it quite difficult to find farms
to sell. Some submarginal farms had been abandoned by owners
who were attracted to the higher wages they could earn in war industries.
When farms were occasionally auctioned to settle estates,
the livestock and farm machinery brought good prices. Several large
farms were purchased by buyers from a distance who intended to
raise cattle on a highly specialized basis. On the other hand, another
citizen contended that nearly every farm on the Lynchburg Road was
for sale and that farm owners had been robbed too long. He protested
that it was hard for them to get anything like the fair value
of their property. Good farm land within two miles of Charlottesville
and the University was valuable. A more distant farm on a
back road could not be compared with land which was “close in”
and in an exclusive residential neighborhood. The average farm rose
in price in Albemarle County from $7,333 to $7,501 between 1940
and 1945, the average price per acre from $56.29 to $58.83. So
although the prices of farm products climbed rapidly on the inflationary
spiral and the cash wages paid labor rose noticeably, the value
of farm property lagged far behind and advanced to only an inconsequential
degree.[49]

As was true in most of the other communities in the United States,
the people of Albemarle County and Charlottesville cooperated with
the Federal Government in its program of food production to meet the
gargantuan demands of war. They helped to make it possible for Secretary
of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson to say that the national
food output was thirty-eight per cent greater during 1940–1944
than in 1935–1939. And, when they occasionally felt a bit rebellious
against apparent food shortages and were willing to kick over
the traces with which they pulled their share of the load, they realized
dimly or perceived clearly that, as the Secretary and other authorities
often reiterated, the national civilian food supply per capita,
after deducting allotments to military needs and Lend-Lease shipments,
was greater through each of the war years than during 1935–
1939 and during the First World War.[50]

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