This Just In…Education and Training
Information courtesy of Kansas Farm Bureau’s Education and Training Division
Seasonal Celebrations—Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time is approaching this weekend, and it is once again time to prepare to “spring forward” our clocks. Do you ever wonder why? It is a popular belief that Daylight Saving Time was created to benefit farmers, which is a myth. In the United States, Daylight Saving Time was created in the first World War in 1918. At the time of implementation, it was used as an effort to conserve fuel used to produce electric power. It was believed that if the summer sunlight lasts longer into the evening, it is one less hour of darkness that will need to be lit, cooled, or heated. This also ends up benefiting retail outfits and recreational businesses, as the extra daylight increases activity after people get off work.
There are many people who intensely dislike Daylight Saving Time. Farmers have been against it from the start, lobbying against it in 1919. This extra daylight disrupts a farmer’s carefully orchestrated schedule and can also affect the amount of time put in by farmworkers. Other frequent complaints are the inconvenience of changing many clocks and adjusting to a new sleep schedule. The energy we once saved from the extra daylight, is now being consumed by extra air conditioning usage and increased gasoline usage.
Even though there has been more momentum for proposals to keep the clock on Daylight Saving Time permanently, there has been no federal legislation passed. Every state, besides Hawaii and Arizona, will be on the Daylight Saving Time schedule. So be prepared to spring your clocks forward at 2 a.m. on Sunday!
For more information and history on Daylight Saving visit American Farm Bureau and AgAmerica Lending’s Myth vs. Fact: Daylight Saving Time and Farming
