507S - THE TRUCK FARMER (Second Edition)
(late 1940's?; 11m)

Shown with Movie:
507-I Accuse My Parents

Short Type: Educational

Plot: Farmers raise winter vegetables, which are then trucked to markets up north.

Prod: Encyclopaedia Brittanica Productions
(407S-Junior Rodeo Daredevils; 602S-A Date with Your Family;
608S-A Day at the Fair; 613S-Keeping Clean and Neat)
Coll: J.F. Rosborough, Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas

Characters (names unknown):
narrator
old-time pioneer family
crop-pickers
crop farmers
vegetable processors

Classic Line: "After plowing, a seed bed is prepared by a modern disk harrow, breaking up the clods of earth."

Trivia: "Truck Farming" is not just about trucks or farming (which explains a lot since there are few trucks in this short). The term is used to describe the large-scale production and distribution of crops by road or rail. The word "truck" originally referred to the bartering of goods, eventually meaning the process of getting goods to a destination and the vehicle used to haul those goods. Fascinating!

It's fairly obvious how the plight of the crop-picking migrant workers in Florida, Texas, and California are not even hinted at in this short.

Last Updated: 3/28/1999