Show I 1 farm new Product lio lic U S land shrinking the number of acres of of land land good enough to grow food and fiber Is shrinking each year while the count rys population increases Inc even een though the ti S has taken great strides over the past decade to save its soil and water resources this was the warning theme of two talks given recently by dave dae davidson Da ldson national director of the agricultural conservation program davidson pointed out that it if all the harvested cropland of the U S were divided equally every man woman and child would have about two and one half a acres c res each for foi all t their heir food and much of their clothing needs A hilf halt million acres of our good land Is going out of production each year through er ero slon sion and soil depletion while that picture is alarming lie he said it has improved from the situa tion when the nation was losing productive land at the rate of a million lIon acres acre each year with the aid of the agricultural con sen atlon program U S tarm farm eis r have hae mide made headway in slowing L u g d down own the destruction of farmland for example in 1946 they lie use used about 25 million tons of lime more than six times the amount used in 19 1936 36 when the agi Agil cultural t ural conservation bonsen atlon program began altogether three and one halt hal r million of the nations carmera bariner s and ranchers are now carrying out r soil oil building practices in the file on of the coun frys cropland ci 1047 1947 patin goals geared to food needs utah farmers are aie being asked to increase their acreage of dry beans barley corn sugar beets and all tame hay according to final farm production goads announced recently by the united states D department of agriculture final 1947 goals for the nation are slightly less than tho goals recommended by the file de pertinent pirt parti ment nent of agriculture last november ve niber however total tota acreage called for by 1917 1947 goa goals s Is substantially ly more than the he 1946 and the average prewar planted acreage f in utah decreases are indicated in planted 0 of r wheat rye oats and potatoes these decreases are proposed to obtain tho the needed increased production of other crops and to begin alp return to conserving uses of some of the acreage which has been tanned farmed more intensely than it should have to produce needed food for tho the war emergency |