The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1948-03-18
ROOD PRODUCTION. GOALS
NKUST BE MET TO FEED
HUNGRY EUROPE

&4UNOSA EUROFE
Demands on this nation for food
for hungry world made the meet
ing of supervisors of Montana Soil
Conservation Districts at Great
Falls, December IL, the most i'm
portant gathering of publcspirited
citizens in the state in l947, the sup
erVisors were told by o. E. McCon-
nell of Lincoln, Nebraska, regional
chief of operations for the U. S. Soil
Conservation Service.
This is true, he said, because soil
and water conservation offers prob
ably the only hope that the pro-
GiHction goals Immediately ahead
can be met-"soiI conservation such
as soil conservation district super
visors, technicianS of the Soil Con-
servation Service, and educational
folks of the Extension Services are
sponsoring and establishing in CO
operation with farmers and ranch
'During the war years." McCon-
nell explained, crop production
was the highest ever attained in the
History of the United States. This
gut a tremendous burden on the
soils of America that increased the
erosion hazard and reduced soil
fertility. It put the problem of the
future agricultural production
squarely up to the farmer and
rancher, soil conservation district
and Soil Conservation Service.
Now" he continued, "the United
States has committed itself to furn-
iSh large amounts of food and farm
products to a hungry world. That
means continued intensive farming
with soil-depleting crops on hun
dreds of thousands of acres that
should have a rest. Land that should
go into grass permanently as mead
ows and pastures. Land that should
be in grass and legumes 2 to S years
for a better rotation, soil improve
ment, and erosion control"
That America is not so far from
a land shortage herself as most
might think was revealed in Nc
Connells summarys of the world
situation.
So far as can be determined, he
explained, there are left only 4
billion acres of Immediately arabic
land in the world to supply food
fiber and other needs of the popu-
lation of more than billion people
Yet, he said, nutritionists say we
need 212 acres of reasonably pro-
ductive cultivable land per person
to furnish a minimum nutritious
diet Some nations have less than
half an acre per person.
World population, he pointed out,
was about 545 million in 1850; by
1910 it was about billion III mil
lion, or a four-fold increase in 300
years. At that rate, another cen
turtles would give the world 8l2
billion people
In the United States, Mcconnell
said, in 1900 we had rs million
people and well over 500 million
acres of productive cultivable land
In 1920 we had los million people
and right at 500 million acres of
such land. But by l947. the popula-
ton estimate was l45 million
people, while productive cultivable
land had decreased to AGO million
acres. II
What will those figures be by
1870 when. we are told. population |
of the United States will be about
ITO million people?' Mcconnell |
asked. What will the acres Of pro-
ductive farm land be?"
With the present rate of erosion, |
he said, there will be far less than |
the present AGO million acres
per person. But even
without further shrinkage in those
acres, the actual farm J
land per person in 1970-with a |
ITO million-would be
less than the needed acres per per
son for food and industrial needs. |
I'VE know of the hunger in vari-
Gus parts of Asia and the present |
distress in Greece and other coun-
tries" Mcconnell said For many |
years, we were inclined to look on
hunger as merely an economic by i
product Now we are beginning to |
see-some are BEGINNING to see, at |