By RAY WYCHE

An observant traveler journeying through the Columbus County countryside 50 to 100 years ago would be surprised at what he would see -- or what he would not see -- if he were to follow the same route today.

Even the roads our mythical sightseer would travel on would be different. Fifty years ago, a motorist could not travel far in the county without experiencing the dust or mud of a dirt road. Today, the county has only about 108 miles of unpaved roads, about 950 miles of hard surfaced urban and rural secondary roads, and 235 miles of paved primary roads such as U.S. 74-76 and U.S. 701.

The idea of our traveler being able to drive about Columbus County on 1,185 miles of paved roads would have been beyond his comprehension 50 or 75 years ago.

The farms along these roads have changed in appearance considerably in the last few decades, reflecting the many changes in farming.

The traveler today would notice the decline -- if not the almost complete absence -- of the once-ubiquitous tall, square buildings used for the curing of bright-leaf tobacco, the crop that fueled the Columbus County economy for years. The remaining few of these roughly built tobacco barns now serve for other purposes, mainly as storage buildings.

Summertime fields would not have as large acreages of tobacco as in the older times; King Tobacco has been dethroned, done in by a reduction in demand brought on by health concerns, an increase in cheaper imported tobacco, and the end of the quota-price support program.

Another farm building our time traveler would seldom or no longer see is the “union” barn, two-story, bulky structures with animal stalls flanking a central open passageway on the ground floor where the farmer once hung his draft animal harnesses and parked his wagon. The second floor was devoted to the storage of hay and/or fodder for his mule or mules. For years the mule was the farmer’s only source of power (other than his own muscles) and taking care of his mule was a high priority, regardless of the skewed economics involved.

An elderly retired farmer who used mules to farm for years once put it in very clear language : “You worked that mule six months out of the year but you fed that *#@ 12 months a year.”

Our wanderer would notice a dramatic change in dwellings since his earlier trips through the county. He would see countless oblong metal boxes, some showing efforts at beautifying with grassed areas, flowers and shrubs and some not, that are homes to many families. Some would have wheels attached and some not.

The number of building permits issued for mobile homes far outnumbers permits granted for conventional, or “stick-built,” dwellings.

That agriculture has changed is borne out by indisputable figures in the latest crop report covering the years 1997-2005.

The report shows that 2,490 farmers planted 124,103 acres in all crops in 2005, leaving 10,864 acres classed as fallow (arable fields left unplanted).

Except for the big decline in tobacco acres from 12,177 acres in 1997 (considered the high water mark for tobacco in the county) to 3,751 acres in 2005, perhaps biggest change is in the large upsurge in acres planted in peanuts as farmers sought an alternative cash crop to replace income lost from reduced tobacco production. In 1997, Columbus farmers planted 677 acres in peanuts; in 2005, the figure rose to 7,469 acres. Quotas limiting peanut production were lifted in 2003, and in that year, peanut plantings increased by almost 1,000 acres.

Soybeans, along with corn considered a secondary crop to tobacco, showed a big jump from 31,969 acres in 1997 to 50,081 last year. The price of soybeans, like that of all farm commodities, varies from year to year and the price received one season determines to some extent the amount of beans that will be produced the following year. The 2000 soybean crop totaled 60,414 acres, the largest ever in the county,

Our traveler through Columbus farmlands would note that production of other so-called “minor” farm commodities continue to show fluctuations through the years as certain crops seem to rise in popularity one year and just as quickly fall from favor the next, for whatever reason. Wheat dropped from 14,415 acres in 1997 to 8,894 acres last year. Acres devoted to cucumbers rose from 273 in 1997 to 819 last year, and watermelon acres fell from 248 in 2004 to 40 acres in 2005.

The biggest change in county agriculture our time traveler would note is the decline in importance of tobacco. In 2004 the last year of the auction sales system, domestic tobacco manufacturers were not anxious to bid on the farmers’ offerings. That year, the last in which price supports were in effect, more than 80 percent of tobacco sold at auction was bought by the Stabilization Corporation, the cooperative that purchases tobacco failing to bring the minimum price set by government graders.

The majority of the 2005 crop was sold directly to manufacturers, usually at a price lower than that paid at the auction warehouses.

Just as the Golden Leaf in the first quarter of the 20th century pushed aside cotton as the crop that paid off the mortgage, other crops and farm-related business deals are being pursued to bring in cash for those farmers who want to hold on to the land and to tending the land. Some have sold small portions of their real estate for homesites or mobile home parks. Many have turned former farmland into tree farms, set out in orderly rows of pine saplings for which, in many cases, their children and grandchildren will receive compensation.

Undoubtedly, there will continue to be changes in agriculture and by extension, changes in the way farms look and are operated in the county.

But the days of the farmer using much of his land, time and energy to produce food for his mule are gone forever.