Being an ex-farmer myself during the last change for daylight savings in New Zealand (sometime in the latter 70's we extended daylight savings by 1 hour through summer), I can say that farmers were totally opposed to the change.

And all you young whippersnappers can cut the age jokes right here or I'll belt you one with my cane.

Daylight savings meant that the morning milking had to be done in darkness costing electricity. The main reason given at the time was that the kids were waiting for the bus in the morning in the dark, and the city workers had to complete their bar-b-ques too early in the evenings and rush inside before it got dark and the moths started annoying the guests.

Damn city slickers - Martha! Fetch my shotgun!

Steve

>>>>>>The same thing happens in Europe (the daylight time, I mean). It's hard to me to imagine something more stupid than this hour change. I never understood the use of it, except the fact that everybody's tired at work for at least one month after the change in the Spring. :( Maybe somebody can give me a more reasonable explanation... ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Vlad
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We have an anachronistic custom in most of the states of setting the clocks back or forward 1 hour twice a year. In spring we set clocks ahead to make a later daylight in the evening, that's what the 'D' in EDT is all about...
>>>>>
>>>>>Farmers...did most of their work in the spring...getting the fields cultivated, crops planted, and now sprayed. Takes alot of daylight to accomplish this task.
>>>>>
>>>>>I BELIEVE that the Sprint forward was designed to give the farmers more waking daylight.
>>>>>
>>>>>However, I've always known farmers to be up at the crack'o dawn anyway so I don't rightly understand it.
>>>>
>>>>Daylight savings time was originally implemented in WWII to make a longer daylight workday to create weapons. It has since been reintroduced about 30 years ago because of an economic "crisis". I think it might have been when Nixon put on a wage freeze.
>>>>
>>>>Eric K. (expat)
>>>
>>>
>>>I don't totally believe that. When I lived in Chile from 78-81 we had daylight savings time there.
>>
>>I was under the impression that this was done for children going to school in the morning. In the fall when the days are getting shorter and shorter, sunrise isn't until 7:00 - 7:30 a.m. which is the time that children are waiting at the bus stops and morning traffic is in full swing. So they decided to move it an hour back so kids would be done by the morning motorists. It's changed back in the spring when sunrise is early enough to warrant it.
>>
>>Mark A. Struck
>
>
>And I always heard it was for the farmers.