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CHAPTER mm I ^ ^ 



I World Food Possibilities 

 and Fertility Status 

 of Our Soils 



CHARLES E. KELLOGG and A. C. ORVEDAL 



M 



unkind has lived for a long time on the soils of the 

 world. Despite the examples of spectacular soil depletion that each of us 

 has seen or read about, we still must marvel at the stability of our soils. 

 For many centuries, long before the rise of modern science, eastern 

 and southern Asia had enormous populations. Famines have occurred, 

 to be sure; in fact, this population has rarely been well fed by modern 

 standards, yet it has persisted through the ages. Both western Europe 

 and Japan have maintained increasing populations for three centuries 

 on soils originally low in fertility — soils that have been greatly in- 

 creased in productivity during the last century and a half. 



What hope, in the light of modern science, can we now give to man 

 that hunger and starvation can be kept from his door? Realizing fully 

 the many critical social, economic, and political obstacles to be over- 

 come (j), what about soils and crop production? Let us look broadly 

 at a few of the physical and biological aspects. 



ARABLE LAND — AVAILABLE AND POTENTIAL 



First, do we have enough arable land in the world? If we take a 

 general view of the world's land, we see that about one-half of it is 

 not suitable for cultivation (5). This includes areas covered with 

 everlasting ice and snow, the Tundra, the high mountains, the deserts, 

 and semideserts. There is some significant grazing in the high moun- 

 tains, and water collected in the high mountains is used for irrigating 

 desert lands. In fact, substantial increases in irrigation are possible with 



