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Abstract
Beliefs and values in American farming have been profoundly influenced by the technological revolution of our times. Yet we are often influenced by concepts that were more suitable in the past. Technology has a way of marching faster than beliefs and values can respond, and this creates problems. This report considers how the existing beliefs and values about agriculture arose and how they may be adjusted to the present age. The Protestant ethic of the virtue of work, for example, and the influence of frontier psychology are reviewed. Freedom and independence and the family farm still sway our thinking although they have a different context than in Jefferson's day. Some rugged individualism may have to bow to personal and social responsibility in a modern community.