Maladjustments in Land Use 



tion of ovoicnippiiip: on these erosive lands will pro- 

 gressively lower their productivity. Low yields per 

 acre in the western areas and small acreages per farm 

 in the southern and eastern areas make it desirable, if 

 not necessary, to maintain or even increase present 

 ])i'oduction per farm in these areas in an cfibrt to main- 

 tain incomes. Thus the introduction of more grass and 

 hay production for the region as a whole ideally should 

 he accompanied by proportionate consolidation and 

 enlargement of farms. The present demand for land 

 on the ])art of large mimbers of young rural people 

 unable to migrate to urban centers, as well as on the 

 l)art (if urban people wishing to move to the country, 

 limits the possibilities of obtaining better o])])ortunities 

 I'lsewluu-c f(H- families who would be displaced by a 

 process of faini enlargement. Further investigations 

 may find a solution to this problem in the readjustment 

 of farm organizations without increasmg size of units. 

 The introduction of more labor-using enterprises, such 

 as dairying and poultry raising, would eflVct the 

 decreased acreage of crops if conditions were favorable 

 for the marketing of increased quantities of these 

 products. 



Farmers in the general farming areas of the Ohio 

 Valley and southern Illinois are not only handicapped 

 by less productive soil but have less total land and less 

 tillable crop land per farm than Corn Belt farmers. 

 Larger farms with a higher proportion of the land in hay 

 and grass would make possible a more adequate living 

 on the more les'cl lands and would in addition ]u-cvent 

 continued erosion on more rolling land. The introduc- 

 tion of improved machinery and improved technicpie 

 in agricultural production has increased the disadvan- 

 tage of farmers in these areas in crop production as a 

 basis for commercial agriculture. Farmers on the 

 better lands have been able to make more general use 

 of these improvements. The downward trend in total 

 rrop acreage is an indication of the adjustments farmers 

 in these areas have been forced to make as a result of 

 this increasing disadvantage. Consolidation of farms, 

 with a liigbcr proportion of the total land devoted to 

 the production of hay and pasture, would mean a con- 

 titiuiiliou of Ibis trend. Althougii this r(\!j,inn unde- 

 ninbly lun^ds, in line with changed economic conditions, 

 a better adjustment between tj-jie of agricultural ])ro- 

 duction and natural resources there are even more 

 serious problems whose solution may have (o be 

 given precedence. The difficulty of finding better 

 opportimities for the families displaced must be over- 

 come l)eforc a geiuM'al program of extensification of 

 type of fai-ming can be undertaken. 



In the Cotton Belt, State land-planning consultants 

 report scattered areas from central Texas cast to South 

 Cart)limi where erosive hiiul is farjued too intensively 

 and where the farms are not large enough to permit 



the most desirable type of land utilization. Indica- 

 tions are that a readjustment could be effected by 

 returning to forest cover those lands having steep 

 slopes, and by bringing into crop production other 

 lands having nuire juodcrate slo])es on which terracing 

 and otlu'r jueasures would economically conserve the 

 soil, making sm-e that each farm contained enough 

 smooth land to meet the crop requirements of a farm 

 family. Such a readjustment would ])rol)ably not 

 require any net change in the population of the areas, 

 or in the acres of the ]U'incipal cro])s. The detailed 

 plans for such readjustments in a few ])articular areas, 

 and e.xperimental and demonstratioual jirojects to 

 determine their feasibility, are urgently ncn'ded. 



Irrigation projects in numerous cases have been 

 blighted with too great a subdivision of the lauil to 

 permit an economical system of farming. In other 

 instances there has been lack of sufficient water to 

 supply properly all the units dependent upon it. Some 

 irrigation projects depending on wells as the source of 

 their water supply, are experiencing progressive lower- 

 ing of the water table. Tliis points to future difficul- 

 ties, even though water depletion may not yet have 

 progressed to the point of causing economic distress. 

 The situation is analogous to that of soil depletion. 

 Correction of these jnaladjustments implies larger 

 farms in some cases, or, if water shortage be a limitijig 

 factor, a shift to crops requiring less water (in conjunc- 

 tion with larger farms) is required. The solution of 

 these difficulties will vary with each irrigation project. 



4. Changes in Cropping System to Reduce Erosion 

 Without Lirreasing Si~e of Farms. — In cases where 

 changes in the cro])ping system are required in order 

 to control erosion, enlargement of the farju unit nuiy 

 also be necessary; more often it is not. Changes in 

 cropping system or in farm practice in order to con- 

 trol erosion are reconunended in jnost agriiultuial 

 areas where serious erosion is taking place .Vmong 

 the larger areas in which changes in the cropping 

 system without cnlnrgcuicnt of farms is reported as 

 desirable, are the Piedmont ujilnnd from N'iiginia to 

 Alabama, the Mississippi silt-loam u])hui(ls of western 

 Kentucky, Tcimessee, and Mississijipi ; the hiLrhland 

 rim of Kentucky and Tennessee, the hilU of 

 southern Ohio and southern Iiuliana, the Driftless 

 Area of Wisconsin and Minnesota, the loess prairies 

 of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas, the Black 

 Prairies of Texas, the Redbeds Plains of Texas and 

 Oklahoma, the High Plains of Texas and Oklahojua, 

 the Palouse wheat coimtiy of Washington, Oregon, 

 and Idaho, and juany valley and foothill areas of 

 California. The specific changes in crojjping system 

 were not det(U'mined. 



5. Afore Jiidiriotis Cse of the Range. — LTncontroUed 

 use of the public domain range has led to forage deple- 



