A common question on the road is “What are you reading?” This is a particularly valuable question because as the old adage says, “If you are going to lead, you’ve got to read.” Thanks to lots of travel, I average two hours of reading per day. In fact, just getting through my staples of The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and The Financial Times usually takes up a lot of that time. However, I recently surprised one producer by telling him my summer reading was farm management publications by G.F. Warren of Cornell University from 1913, and Overton and Robertson from Purdue University in 1927.

Both books were gifts from friends. One was from Dr. Steve Isaac, professor at the University of Kentucky, and the other from Phil Brechbill, a well-respected farmer near Auburn, Indiana. Although somewhat dated, both books had some great highlights still applicable today.

Warren’s 1913 publication names four requirements for being a good farmer: Make a full and comfortable living from the farm and land, rear a family carefully and well, be a good service member of the community, and leave the farm more productive than found. Whether it is then or now, these are still solid, guiding principles for the balance between business, family and self. Of course, that balance is reflected in the principles as two pertain to business, and two address family and community.

In Warren’s book, he highlighted the importance of education away from the family farm, both formal and experiential. At the time, most of the highest formal educations concluded with high school, and those with a degree earned six times more than those without. Those who worked away from the family farm for two to four years were five times more profitable. The reasons Warren gave in explanation were exposure to the farm practices of others, and the broader network of people that is often formed during formal education.

Interestingly, Overton and Robertson’s 1927 book cited current corn yields ranging from 19 bushels per acre in Arkansas, to a high of 39.5 bushels per acre in Pennsylvania. I was surprised to find that the Eastern states actually produced more than today’s traditional areas in the Midwest. Prices in 1927 ranged from a low in Oklahoma at $0.59 per bushel to a high in New York State of $0.96 per bushel. Clearly, technologies and locations of farms have shifted over the past 100 years, which shifted production as well.

While perhaps surprising choices, both books provided great perspectives and reminders of the more important aspects of the industry. Actually, regardless of the specific book, a practice of reading and learning keeps one moving forward.