| Show how many farms in the ocean many years ago a wise midwest farmer recognized what was happening to good farming land in america when he suid said the best part of my farm is down below new or orleans leans MY and this week preal george member of the utah committee wonders if anyone has thought to count the number of farms which go under the bridge during a single flood season he bases his figures on the fact that the deep accumulations of silt in the deltas of great rivers of this country is primarily the top soil of farms carried by unchecked water tests show says mr george that around million tons of topsoil roll down the mississippi river each year an inch of topsoil from an a acre c re of land weighs between HO and tons at tons of topsoil per acre this loss would mean the equivalent of an inch of topsoil from two and two thirds million acres the columbia Ovi I orado rio grande and many other rivers are rolling soil out to the sea too mr george points out but the mississippi sis sippi alone carried the equivalent of an inch of topsoil from th the e surface of nearly farms of acres each and even more serious says the chairman the topsoil comes from the best land on the farm the land that is in row crops or which is being worked most to produce the nations crops says mr air george like the sand in the hourglass hour glass the soil at the top is going down but unlike the hourglass hour glass the process cannot be reversed the topsoil does not run back from that limited amount of topsoil which is getting less each year must come collie the 43 million meals a day for the ll 11 i million people in this country in addition tons and tons of food are needed to keep europe from going under and every farm that goes under the bridge means just that much less land from which to grow the food we need that much more of a burden on the land that is left mr george said the primary objective of the agricultural conservation program is to reduce this loss through this program he points out the nation cooperates with its fa banners in in carrying out conservation practices which keep the soil and water on the farm |
