Results of Surveys on Research in the Uses of Electricity in the Dairy and Poultry Industries

Excerpts: Last year there was set up in the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering a research project in rural electrification. The project as planned was believed to be broad enough to include practical, every-day problems and also studies of a more fundamental nature, the results of which, it is hoped, will have sone influence upon the future use of electricity on farms. The project has as its objective a study of uses that will pay, or at least give promise of paying, their own way and perhaps also net a profit, keeping in mind the low-income farm. As the building of rural power lines reaches the less prosperous farmers, the problem of finding, or developing uses of electricity that aid in increasing income gets more and more exacting upon the investigator. Not only must equipment of a readily adaptable and practical nature be developed, but studies must be made which will lay the foundation for developing equipment for the future. In the Bureau's effort to reach its objective it has set up several goals, the first of which is to survey and collate information on research, both active and completed, on agricultural enterprises in which electricity plays a part. Second, to make case studies of actual farms in various parts of the country and by careful analysis, discover how the farm program may make the use of electrical appliances profitable, or as a corollary to that study, a study of the appliances themselves, to see how they may be modified or developed to fit into the present farm schedule in such a way as to make them profitable to the farmer, keeping in mind always, safety, convenience, beauty and the fact that we must concern ourselves with the low-income farm. Third, as previously stated, to study the more fundamental problems, such as those relating to the influence of electricity, light, heat and magnetism, and other associated phenomena upon plants and animals.

节选内容：去年，农业工程局启动了一项农村电气化研究项目。该项目按规划覆盖范围足够广泛，既涵盖日常实际生产问题，也包含更具基础性的研究方向；我们期望其研究成果能对未来农场的电力应用产生积极影响。本项目的目标是研究具备经济效益、至少能实现收支平衡，甚至可带来净利润的电力应用场景，同时始终兼顾低收入农场群体。随着农村输电线路建设覆盖到经济欠发达的农户，寻找或开发有助于增收的电力应用场景的难题，对研究人员的要求也愈发严苛。不仅需要研发适配性强且实用的电力设备，还需开展相关研究为未来的设备开发奠定基础。为达成项目目标，该局设定了多项核心目标：其一，梳理并整合当前正在开展及已完成的、涉及电力应用的农业领域研究信息；其二，针对全美各地的实际农场开展案例研究，通过细致分析探索如何通过农场电力应用方案实现电器使用的盈利性；同时作为该研究的衍生方向，对电器设备本身展开研究，探讨如何对其进行改进或开发，使其适配当前农场的生产节奏，从而为农户带来收益，且始终兼顾安全、便捷、美观，并关注低收入农场群体的需求；其三，如前所述，开展更具基础性的研究，例如探索电力、光线、热量、磁场及其他相关现象对动植物的影响。