--- title: How the Volunteer Land Corps Helped Keep America's Farms Going description: When American farmers faced a labor shortage during WWII, an innovative program helped keep them afloat. canonical: https://time.com/3892364/volunteer-land-corps/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-15T12:00:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:22.787Z og:title: How Summer Jobs Once Kept America’s Farms From Failing og:description: During World War II, a summer job was more than just a job og:url: https://time.com/3892364/volunteer-land-corps/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8921967f59588ff0/6988511f0b72e338776e41b4/150520-vermont-land-corps-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Vermont Volunteer Land Corps 1942 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Summer Jobs Once Kept America’s Farms From Failing twitter:description: During World War II, a summer job was more than just a job twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8921967f59588ff0/6988511f0b72e338776e41b4/150520-vermont-land-corps-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Summer Jobs Once Kept America’s Farms From Failing  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jun 15, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Through tall corn Murray Blackman drives two Belgian horses while "Ace" Markowitz, another Land Corps boy, distributes the last forkful of hay over the wagon. Caption from LIFE. Through tall corn Murray Blackman drives two Belgian horses while "Ace" Markowitz, another Land Corps boy, distributes the last forkful of hay over the wagon.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jun 15, 2015 12:00 PM UTC The summer of 1942 was not looking good for the American farmer. Half a year into the war effort, resources were low and demand was high. As the _Columbia Daily Spectator_ [reported](http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19420415-01.2.15&e=-------en-20--49752--txt-txIN-columbia-----) in April of that year, “deprived by war needs of much of the transient labor he normally uses, he has nevertheless been asked to hit new highs in output.” Inspired to action by the impending crisis, the influential journalist Dorothy Thompson conceived of the Volunteer Land Corps, a program that would offer basic army wages ($21 per month) to young men and women who went to work on farms in New Hampshire and Vermont for the summer. LIFE profiled the 600 “pioneering youngsters” at the close of that summer, noting that the program benefited participants as much as it did the farmers. “Under their sun-bleached mops of hair the youngsters carry a new understanding of rural America,” the magazine declared. Many of the young workers were from the New York City area and had never seen a farm. They spent their summer days pitching hay, milking cows and husking corn, but beyond the daily rigors of farm life, LIFE weighed in, they had the opportunity to “learn firsthand what American really is.” Thompson told the _Spectator_ that she was pleased with the response from the privileged youths: “They have been quite easily persuaded that they might as well pitch in with a pitchfork as with a golf stick. The work on the end of the fork, however, will be just a bit heavier. And there won’t be any caddies.” _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. Through tall corn Murray Blackman drives two Belgian horses while "Ace" Markowitz, another Land Corps boy, distributes the last forkful of hay over the wagon. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Land Corps volunteer, 16 year-old Dick Sterne from Long Island, pitching hay atop a wagon on Ascutney Farm in Vermont. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sleek cows on Edson farm near Windsor are guided to barn for milking by 22-year-old Murray Blackman of New York. Murray also pitched hay, cleaned the barn. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Driving the hay rake on Acuntney Hill Farm at Windsor, Vt. is Dick Sterne, 16, of Hewlett, L.I. During summer months Dick washed more than 40,000 milk bottles. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two volunteers with the Land Corps in Vermont. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two volunteers with the Land Corps in Vermont. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Dorothy Crow, 21, husks corn with little Sandra Edson. Dorothy has a fellowship in International Relations at New York University, is writing her master's thesis. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Volunteers with the Land Corps in Vermont. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Playing Bear" with Murray Blackman is fun for Sandra. Murray went to NYU one year, is studying at the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York to become a rabbi. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Volunteer with the Land Corps in Vermont. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A bonfire follows a picnic of fresh corn and frankfurters cooked over open fires in field near Barnard, Vt. Most popular songs were "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree" and "Clementine" and military marches such as the Army Air Corps song. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Volunteers with the Land Corps in Vermont roasting marshmallows. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sober young audience for the music of skillful Ania Dorfmann, concert pianist, includes these Land Corps boys and girls, in the studio of Miss Thompson's home. This part of house was once a barn, built about 1840\. The unrailed stairs lead to loft above. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sleepy boys pile into hay on the floor of the town hall at Barnard, and thus ends the first big day of the conference. Laughed one boy: "As if we hadn't seen enough hay all summer, now we have to sleep in it!" The girls slept in nearby farmhouses. 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