Farmboy: Hard Work and Good Times on a Farm That Helped Change Northeast Agriculture [Paperback]

John B. Babcock (Author), John Marcham (Author), Dewitt Historical Society of Tompkins County (Corporate Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0942690435 | ISBN-13: 978-0942690439 | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

A story of changes in Northeast agriculture as seen through the eyes of a young man growing up on a farm in Upstate New York. New techniques in farming are chronicled as well as the rise of GLF the farming cooperative that was forerunner to Agway.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author is a journalist and former CEO with Park, Inc. His father was one of the principal founders of GLF.

Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: De Witt Historical Society (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942690435
• ISBN-13: 978-0942690439
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,663,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tales of growing up on a farm in the 2930s, September 7, 1999

By 

John B. Babcock (New York State, WW2 Infantry vet.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Farmboy: Hard Work and Good Times on a Farm That Helped Change Northeast Agriculture (Paperback)

Agricultural history threatens to be dull and tedious; hence this highly personal account of the adventures of the author from age 9 to 19 on a family farm in the Northeast. A series of vignettes describing chores and other farm work are interspersed with high humor, pranks and harsh physical effort.

The farm setting was the family home of aggricultural leader, economist and teacher, Howard E. Babcock, for years Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Ithaca's Cornell University. Introducing many new farm practices, he told readers of his popular page "Kernels, Screenings and Chaff," in the American Agriculturist magazine of new ways to manage grasslands, employ used auto tires to ease operation of farm equipment. He counseled them to buy open-formula farm feeds from the huge farm cooperative he organized and managed, The GLF (now Agway).

Babcock also introduced farmers and ultimately all consumers, to prepare and consume frozen farm produce and meats. Home freezers were one of the most important contributers to improved diet and life style not only of farmers, but all consumers.

Young John Babcock tells of shooting woodchucks and rats, tending livestock, and operating new farm machines that his dad started to promote in the midst of the Depression decade. After the 1933 Bank Holiday, loan rates fell to the lowest in many years.

Life was hard, but this farm family never missed a meal, nor the chance to enjoy life to its fullest in an era marked by sweeping change. I submit it as a high spirited and readable account.