PLANNING 281 



10. The use of emergency relief money to preserve wild 

 life, forestry, soil, promote drainage, and control insects. 



In addition to these activities of the Department of Agri' 

 culture, there is the Farm Credit Administration, which lends 

 money to farmers in need, the National Resources Committee, 

 which is making surveys of the extent and use of our resources, 

 the Bureau of Reclamation, the Indian Service, the Geological 

 Survey, and the Division of Gracing in the Department of the 

 Interior, all of which are working on the problems of land use. 

 Finally there are the activities of the states and the land grant 

 colleges to handle the problems of land use which must be made 

 to fit in with the various federal programs. 



The job of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics is to help 

 these various programs to focus on a unified goal. Its immediate 

 objective is two things, stability and security for the farmer. Un 

 der stability can be listed stable farm prices and incomes, stable 

 soil, water supply, forest, range, and wild life, and a stable and 

 efficient farm production. Under security is first of all the 

 carrying out of a plan that will permit a higher percentage of 

 farmers to own their own farms, and greater security for those 

 farmers who must continue as tenants. In general terms, the 

 main objective of this program is "higher standards of rural 

 living and stability of rural communities, governments, and 

 regions through better land use." 2 



Let us take a specific problem in controlling land use. At 

 one time the Piedmont Plateau was one of the most valuable 

 agricultural regions of the United States. Today it is one of 

 the greatest agricultural problem areas. Boll weevil kills the 

 cotton, erosion destroys the soil, cotton market failures wipe 

 out farm profits. Thousands of people have abandoned their 

 farms to find jobs in the towns. Many farms have been taken 

 over by lending agencies because the farmers couldn't pay their 

 debts. Many more have been taken over by the state or county 



2 Address by M. S. Eisenhower, "Land Use Coordination," p. 4. 



