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Show Few folks realize it, 'but the fact is that the farmers of the country use more steel in a year than goes into a year's ' output of passenger automobiles . . -. that they use enough rubber to put tires on six million cars . . . that they use more petroleum and its derivatives than any other Industry . . . that they use enough electric power to supply the cities of Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore Balti-more and Houston. In 1951 Mho operating cost of farmers alone amounted to $22 billion dollars, which is more than the total farm gross income of any year prior to 1943. Years ago a farmer could operate a long time at a loss if he had to. Today the job the farmers are doing and the cost of production in-' producing 41 per cent more total farm output than In the years 1935 to 1939 would wreck him in short order without a guaranteed fixed and long range price support program This outlook of the job ahead for farmers is1 just as important to the American people as a whole as it is to the 'seven per cent of the population which operates the nation's na-tion's farms, and it is just as Important Im-portant in a . peace-time economy as it is in a" defense economy . . for it means food and clothing and the maintenance of J .high standard of living for all the people of this country. And although Americans generally have increased food con- By WALTER SHE AD WHAT is the Job ahead for farmers who must provide the food and fiber to keep this nation going at a high standard of living? According to the estimates at tbe census bureau, the population of the country is Increasing at a 2V4 million annual rate, which means that in another 20 years we will have an additional 50 million people peo-ple to feed, or anywhere from 190 million to 200 million Americans dependent upon the diminishing farm population for food and clothing. cloth-ing. ... And according to the Department of Agriculture, the farmer must do this Job on just about the acreage that is cultivated today. Also, according ac-cording to the research section of the department, the production of the American farmer can be pushed up about 50 per cent To do this Job of Increased production pro-duction means that the farmer, given growing weather, must make a wider application of the research knowledge now available ... it means application of more fertilizer ferti-lizer . . . more of the conservation and rotation practices which have been found best to increase yields ... continued soil Improvement . . . expansion of electric power and mechanical Implements . . . better seeds, both from a production produc-tion standpoint and resistance to sumption about 12 per cent over pre-World War II levels there are still plenty of people in the country who could be better fed. Looking ahead, too, there is every Indication that the United States, if it is to' play its role of fighting communism must export, more and more of Its food and fiber supplies. Roughly over the past four years we have exported about one-third of our cotton, one-third one-third of our wheat, one-fourth of our tobacco and one-third of our rice. We have exported lesser amounts of other crops. We likely will export more and more of our crops. So there will be continual pressure on economy. plant diseass . . . more and better insecticides ... it means more and better credit facilities and continued contin-ued price supports at a figure which will Insure the farmer a fair profit, for these additional yield practices will mean higher costs of operation. According to these folks who are looking ahead to the future of American agriculture, there also must be put into practice a better distribution system to provide for a better farm market and more thought given to the actual needs of farmers In the matter of the nation's manufacturing output. |