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Show '50 Wool Output, Prices Up For the first time since 1942, wool production in the United States during 1950 showed . a slight increase. Total production for the year amounted to 252,-535,000 252,-535,000 pounds, of which more than 220 million pounds were shorn wool and 32.4 million pulled. Total production in 1949 was 252,473.000 pounds, of which 216.9 million pounds were shorn wool. Average prices received by growers for shorn wool were 57.3 cents per pound in 1950 and 49.4 cents in 1949. Starting in February of 1950, wool prices increased each month. The 1950 average price is the second highest high-est on record, being exceeded only by the price in 1918. Cash receipts of $126 million in 1950 for shorn wool are the highest since 1945. Conservation Steps Up Production Stepping up farm production to meet defense needs will have to be backed up with a lot of good soil and water conservation, conserva-tion, says Reed Lyons, chairman of the Duchesne County P.M.A. committee. This conservation will be needed to keep our farm production plants in good condition so they can keep on turning out the food and fiber needed in the future. The chairman called attention to pasture improvement as one of the most effective ways of increasing1 in-creasing1 production of meat and milk. At the same time the improved im-proved pastures are an added assurance of a continued abun dance. The sod of such pastures protects the land from erosion and restores organic matter to the soil. "Too often, however." says Mr. Lyons, "the pasture is the step-child on the farm." Improved Pastures Produce for Defense Improved "pastures provide about the most effective prgtee, tion against soil erosion, sayi Mr. Lyons. At the , same time, acre for acre, they may produce as much feed for livestock as corn. According to studies made by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agri-culture, there are many instances in-stances where improved pastures pas-tures have produced as much livestock feed per acre on comparable com-parable land as high-yielding corn crops and considerably more than other grain crops. On the other hand, the per unit cost of production is lower. These studies showed that the cost per 100 pounds of total di gestible nutrients from improved improv-ed pastures is less, than a third of the production cost of corn for grain, about a third of the cost of corn for silage, and only about a fourth of the production cost of oats for grain. Returns from pasture per man hour of labor were six times higher than from corn, nine times higher than from oats, and nearly ten times higher than from barley. Drainage Aids Defense Production This is especially important now that defense needs call for all-out production. Land that has been brought back into production pro-duction through drainage can now do its part in meeting national na-tional requirements. Quite often, too, the soil that Is waterlogged or under water Is the richest on the farm. |