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Show Farm Notes Egg Support Policy The poultry industry's "basic market" remains at home, with exports a sideline at best in the view of Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson. Recently, outlining how the price of eggs needs to be supported without encouraging the production of surpluses, the Secretary said: "First, we will support a national na-tional average egg price of 90 per cent of parity, Second, we will do this through the purchase of dried and frozen eggs." Two reasons for putting major emphasis on dried and frozen eggs are: (1) The government stands, a good chance of finding a market for them abroad; (2) If they are not all exported, they can still be handled in such a way as not to depress the price of shell eggs during periods of surplus production. Poultrymen face the problem of production outrunning demand, de-mand, Secretary Anderson said, and operations should be adjusted ad-justed to the new situation. "The i poultry industry has two more years of price supports to protect pro-tect them whfile they put their house in order. If they move without delay, the industry i should face . a long period of prosperity." Farm Missions Report Greater farm production and improved standards among rural rur-al people arc major, needs in China and the Philippines, report re-port two agricultural missions sponsored by the U. S. Departments Depart-ments of'State and Agriculture. Agricultural technicians of this country and of China and the Philippines spent 4 months last year conducting on-the-scene surveys of immediate and urgent farm problems and planning long-term programs for the agricultural ag-ricultural betterment of the two countries. The U. S. section of the missions returned last November. No-vember. Specific recommendations by the missions to achieve the desired desir-ed objectives deal with (1) measures mea-sures designed to increase the per capita production of farmers, and (2) steps which should be taken if the farmer himself is to benefit by such improvements, j The missions also report that in- creased use of chemical fertilizer and improved seed, more scientific scien-tific methods of disease and pest control, improvement of tenancy conditions, marketing organization organiza-tion and better credit facilities are all essential to the improvement improve-ment of agricultural living levels in China and the Philippines. More Farmers Vole A material increase in . the number of farmers voting in ACP committeemen elections last fall and winter is indicated in reports from many states, In most states showing increases, the opportunity to vote by mail accounted for much of the gain. North Carolina, again topping the nation, boosted its already-big already-big total of practically 50,000 voters last year to more than 58,000 this year 27 per cent of the eligible voters. Nearly 37,000 farmers voted in Michigan compared with less than 16,000 the year before. Despite heavy snow and generally gen-erally unfavorable weather in Colorado, more than 10,000 farmers farm-ers voted this year, compared with less than 3,000 the year before. be-fore. Ohio more than doubled its vote with a total of nearly 27,-000 27,-000 this year, compared with 13,-000 13,-000 the year before. Alabama almost matched Ohio with a vote of nearly 26,000 last winter, compared with less than 14,000 the previous year. The number of workers employed em-ployed on U. S. farms was six per cent higher on Februarv 1, 1947, than a year earlier, USDA figures show. I i "Lest We Forget" i Reports of scattered dust storms in recent weeks recall! the developments which led to the major, devastating storms and droughts of the mid-thirties. The story of dust storms began be-gan with the early immigrants of this country who found a land so rich and vast they got the mis-i mis-i taken idea that it would last forever. for-ever. Succeeding generations of Americans continued to nurse the notion that our land resour-j ces were endless. I But, as the matter of sod of the prairies was broken, the land was exposed to the whip and lash of torrential rains. Topsoil was literally swept away, leaving leav-ing raw, unproductive subsoil exposed. ex-posed. For more than a century, we cleared and plowed at a faster fas-ter rate than any nation in history. his-tory. By 1934, 9 out of 10 acres of j our farmland were eroded to I some degree. Almost one acre out of the 10 was no longer capable cap-able of growing food and fiber. Much of the vegetation and rich humus which "ties down" the earth's surface disappeared, leaving leav-ing a granular silt-like soil subject sub-ject to the whims of even light breezes. Then came protracted drought and high winds. And then stories like these appeared in bold type on front pages of newspapers across the country: . . . Four persons were dead one of them a child, suffocated by dust and damage estimates ran high last night as the Midwest Mid-west and Rocky Mountain regions reg-ions counted the cost of a blinding, blind-ing, 2-day dust storm. . . . ... At Palco, Kansas, Vern-lta Vern-lta Ann Frazier, 13, and her 2-month 2-month old sister. Shirley Ann, died of pneumonia- caused py ... A farmer attempted to follow a fence row to his house. His heart was overtaxed and he breathing dust. . . dies. . . . . . Transportation was paralyzed par-alyzed . . . . . . Hundreds of hospital patients pa-tients gulped in air through wet cloths . . . Surface soil was blown so badly that many sections despair des-pair of a crop. Repetition of the calamitous drought last summer also was feared. . . Wind-exosion authorities point out that, if farmers in the Dust Bowl become careless in carrying carry-ing out erosion-control practices conditions like those described in the above headlines could easily recur. |