Cooperation with other Federal agencies has been more strikingly developed in carrying out the third general division of the TVA program - conservation and preservation of land resources. This has meant, by implication, measures for promoting the welfare of the population of the valley estimated at 2,500,000, with an additional 4,00,000 persons inside the sphere of its influence. The U. S. Department of Agriculture, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the Forest Service, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and State agricultural experiment stations and extension services are among the agencies that are working with the TVA, through local organizations of farmers, to carry out a well-rounded program of rehabilitation for both the land itself and for its people. The neighbors, who select the test-demonstrators, adapt results to their own farms. Legume cover crops and terracing are used.
Land devastated by gully erosion is reforested.
The effects of this land-use program on the lives of the people are obvious. The region is predominantly agricultural and, as the productiveness of the farms decreases, the plight of their owners becomes ever more desperate. The availability of improved phosphates for large-scale tests and demonstrations and of low cost electricity is enabling farmers to work out procedures aimed at a sustained agriculture, to reduce drudgery in the home and on the farm, and to enjoy modern conveniences that electricity makes possible. Educational and recreational programs have been established in cooperation with local educational agencies for TVA employees and their families in the towns that lie within the Authority's jurisdiction. Perhaps less important, but nonetheless significant, are the opportunities for employment on the construction projects and the standards set by the TVA in handling its large labor force.