OCR Text |
Show Immense Task of Soil Rebuilding Faces Managers of Nation's Six Million Farms 5 1 phorus and potassium, In various compounds, have been drawn out of the soil by the plants that grew on it. The bigger and better the crop, the more vital minerals extracted. ex-tracted. Ordinarily, much of these elements is replaced by rotation, fallowing, or application of fertilizers, fertiliz-ers, but during these war years when every field must be made to yield to the limit, there is an annual an-nual loss. Also, the scarcity of fertilizers, fer-tilizers, and shortage of help and machinery have conspired to impoverish im-poverish the farmer's land. There is still another important factor in this present soil-exhausting problem. That is the matter of Harvested crops rank next in depleting de-pleting the soil and are in normal years responsible for taking out an additional 4,600,000 tons of nitrogen, 700,000 tons of phosphorus and 3,200,-000 3,200,-000 tons of potash. Nearly a third of the fertile top-soil top-soil of American farms has been lost due to erosion, floods and the damaging effects of overcropping, according to a statement issued by the Middle West Soil Improvement Committee. Six Inches of Topsoil. "A century and a half ago," says the statement, "there was an average aver-age of nine inches of topsoil spread over the entire United States. To- An aerial view of a large Georgia farm on which several soil conservation conser-vation methods are used. In the upper part of the picture appears a large meadow strip, which serves as a safe water disposal area for surface sur-face runoff from adjoining fields. The curved bands are contour strip cropping, and terracing. The owner, Dr. A. C. Brown of Royston, also follows improved rotation practices. Land Being Mined by Excessive Cropping Will Need Fertilizer American farmers face the most gigantic soil rebuilding job in all history when World War II is fought to a successful success-ful conclusion. . That is the considered opinion opin-ion of farm economists, soil conservation experts and leading agronomists of state agricultural colleges throughout through-out the country. What this job will , cost, no one knows yet, but it will, be considerably consider-ably above the 250 to 300 million dollar dol-lar expenditure farmers have been making for fertilizer in recent years. Virtually all of the nation's 6,000,000 farms will need serious attention. Two major reasons are cited by soil experts for this situation: 1 Wartime crop goals necessary to produce foodstuffs, meat, dairy dai-ry products, oil and fiber crops for victory, are eating up the soil's resources of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash much faster than they can be replaced today. Steps to correct this must be taken immediately the war crisis is over. 2 The long-range job of soil conservation con-servation "must be stepped up. Big-scale operations can be post- poned no longer. The "fifth column" col-umn" attacks of erosion are becoming be-coming more menacingly serious. seri-ous. Wasteful farming practices over a century and a half have squandered precious topsoil to a dangerous degree. Farmers recognize that the present pres-ent wartime drain on their soils' fertility level is a necessary contribution contri-bution to victory. But they should bear in mind the imperative fact that wealth borrowed from the soil to help win this war, must be repaid re-paid later on. Dr. George D. Scarseth, head of the agronomy department of Purdue university, summed things up when he said: "Farmers in the Middle West and elsewhere throughout the nation are making a sacrifice in the war production pro-duction program to an extent not fully realized by the world. Soils that have had to produce war crops by fertility exhaustion practices will not have dividends to pay after the war, but will require their own kind of taxation in the form of fertilizers. "In reality, farmers are in the manufacturing business, the same as munitions makers, or steel producers. pro-ducers. They are turning out essential essen-tial products for our armed forces. They are manufacturing foods, feeds, fibers and oils out of the raw materials of the soil the nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and lime. "Fortunately all our soils are not exhausted of their inherited riches. But exhaustion is on the way even with our best soils, and we face a future where these raw materials must be added to the soils as fertilizers ferti-lizers in greater amounts than in the past. Unless we do this, the productivity-of the soil will sink to a dangerous level." Concerning the future outlook, he said: "Our war debt won't be only a matter of taxes and maturing bonds. Our farmers are asked to mine their soils because fertilizer materials are scarce. But crops must be made on the 'fat' of the soils. This means that a farmer of the future will have the handicap of a more exhausted soil and smaller crop yields to pay the taxes that will follow this war." Tremendous Drain. Just how big a drain on the soil's fertility resources docs this extra crop production impose? The answer is plenty! Take one single crop corn for example. Agronomists estimate that the 1941 corn crop in ten midweslcrn states removed 2,fi4.r),404,7.'10 pounds of nitrogen, ni-trogen, phosphorus and potash from the soil. Increasing wartime yields boosted this tax to 3,093,123.334 pounds in 1942 and 3,227,393,770 pounds in 1943. Large as this removal was, it represents rep-resents but a portion of the fertility loss from a single region. Add to it the fertility drain caused by producing pro-ducing hui;c yields of wheat, soybeans, soy-beans, potatoes, alfalfa, clover, oats and other crops and you have some idea of the depreciation of fertility resources. But that doesn't tell the whole story, cither, for the job of producing livestock and dairy product' prod-uct' requires heavy amounts of plant fond, oo. The plain fact hi that every lime n crop Is harve:;led arid hauled to market, mar-ket, or livestock are .shipped to a packer's yards, some of the farm's fertility j;oes wilh them. Those essential es-sential clenicntM, iiit.rocen, phos- day this averages only six inches in depth. "The present war emergency, as well as the future of American agriculture agri-culture itself calls for a determined fight against the forces of soil depletion. de-pletion. The effectiveness of the individual in-dividual farmer's soil management plan in wartime as well as in the peace era to follow, can be aided by the cooperation of agronomists at state agricultural colleges and ex- i periment stations. Through research and experimentation over a long span of years, these experts have developed information concerning fertilizer needs for various crops and soils that is helpful to the farmer who is striving to rebuild his soil's productivity." In combating the destructive effects ef-fects of erosion, individual farmers and organized agriculture are confronted con-fronted by a stealthy, fifth-column enemy. Erosion's damage is gradual grad-ual and in the first stages, barely noticeable. But once it gains headway, head-way, winds and rains not only carry away valuable topsoil, but also remove re-move needed fertilizing elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. Conservation methods are the surest sur-est means of reducing these losses of valuable topsoil and plant nutrients. It has been found that soils having a cover crop suffer only a fraction of the losses from erosion that other farm areas experience. Not only will grasses and legumes provide effective ef-fective vegetative cover for holding topsoil in place and furnish a balanced bal-anced ration for farm animals, but they promote nitrogen fixation, improve im-prove the soil tilth and help increase crop yields following in the rotation. This is particularly true where adequate ade-quate fertilization is undertaken. increased acreage. In order to produce pro-duce the extra crop quotas, not only do existing acres have to do a bigger big-ger crop yielding job but more and more acres have to be tilled. Much of this land represents a lower strata of fertility level and hence it is not able to bear the burden of heavy cropping effectively. A glance at acreage figures tells the story. In 1941 the total harvested acreage of principal crops in the United States was 334.130.C00. In 1942 it rose to 338,081,000 and in 1943 to 347,498.000 acres. New production goals for 1944 propose the use of some 380 million acres. One-Twelfth of Land Ruined. Whon we turn to the long-range job of soil conservation that has been accumiiljig. since the pioncerset I tiers' plows first broke America's virgin farm land, we find an even more serious situation. Hugh H. Bennett, chief of the U. S. soil conservation service, is authority authori-ty for the statement that 50 million acres of the nation's 600 million tillable till-able acres have been completely ruined ru-ined for agricultural purposes. An additional 50 million acres, he estimates, are seriously damaged and a very large further acreage has suffered a marked decrease in soil fertility. As a result of the soil conservation service's work and the efforts of agronomists at state agricultural colleges and experiment stations, significant steps have been taken in recent years in combating this menacing trend. But the major task lies ahead. Six principal factors are responsible responsi-ble for the foregoing losses, according accord-ing to Mr. Bennett. They are erosion, ero-sion, leaching, the removal of fertilizer ferti-lizer elements by harvested crops, livestock and livestock marketing, oxidation of soil organic matter, and fire. Erosion is the worst offender, removing re-moving annually 2,500,000 tons of nitrogen. ni-trogen. 900,000 tons of phosphorus and 15,000.000 tons of potash the three major plant foods which make the productions of crops possible. -- - ' ' te s "'. . f . , i - ....- , - t f . , -", w f : f' 1 t ' ' ' J Bonds Will Trovide Funds. Fortunately the means for accomplishing accom-plishing this soil replenishment job are in the hands of virtually every American farmer. Dollars invested in war bonds now that farm cash income is at the highest level in history and farm debt at the lowest point in many years, can provide the ready cash to pay for the purchase pur-chase of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash needed to restore the fertility fertili-ty level of farms later on. "It Is not too early to begin planning plan-ning for this agricultural reconstruction reconstruc-tion job, nny more than it Is prcmn- . ture at present to lay plans for future fu-ture political and economic peace," a statement by the Middle West Soil Improvement Committee concludes. "For it is becoming increasingly clear that Ihe whole structure of future fu-ture security will rest on the productivity pro-ductivity of the soil. While every I encouragement will be given to soil rebuilding projects by the federal government and by state agricultural agricultur-al agencies, the major responsibility for gelling Ihe job clone will rest on the shoulders of individual farmers. Iiy earmarking part of present war bond purchases now for peacetime soil rebuilding expenditures, fanners fann-ers can he ready when the materials materi-als and manpower become readily available In the postwar era." Hilly laud nlti u considered practically prac-tically worthless can lie mnile to yield goinl returns by proper strip cropping. (' I. I'. I u li: i i. . Danville, (thin, Is shown weighing Ihe harvest from Mich a liehl. lie Is one of the three million farmers now Included In (lll.'l soil conservation projects. |