Maladjustments in Land Use 



liave been poor, and where shelter and clothing require- 

 ments are moderate. Its influence is felt in all regions 

 having poor but tillable land, but is more powerful in 

 those regions where the land is better able to supply 

 direct subsistence, and less important in the semiarid 

 or subhumid regions. It leads to the repeated reoc- 

 cupancy of abandoned farms so long as habitable build- 

 higs remain. Whereas the ability of certain types of 

 poor land to provide subsistence has been demonstrated, 

 their inability to provide facilities for education, 

 cojumunication, and health in the measure needed for 

 a socially satisfactory life, lias been ec(ually well 

 demonstrated. The desirability of undertaking with- 

 drawal of subsistence farming from poor lands therefore 

 is in large measure a social problem. Because of its 

 complex and manifold human implications, it is contro- 

 versial. It is held by some that the haven of refuge 

 ofi'ered by the poor lands to destitute fauulies in tune 

 of stress should not be closed, and that the provision of 

 subsistence by such lands to these, and to families of 

 Hniited ca])abilities, is an alternative superior to support 

 l)y public rehef. On the other hand, it is recognized 

 that tbc occupants of such hinds ai(> (|uite commonly 

 the recipients of public relief or other forms of subsidy, 

 despite their association with the land, and that in 

 such cases the public may he justified in insisting that 

 the recipients live in places where the burden of 

 public subsidy is least. 



The replacement of crop farming by some other 

 major land use has been indicated as desu'able on the 

 hillier and stonier parts of the Northeastern States, in 

 the rougher and less productive jiarts of the southern 

 Appalachian, Ozark, and Ouachita Highlands, and of 

 the intervening uplands, in the hillier and more badly 

 eroded portions of the southeastern cotton and tobacco 

 regions, in the cut-over forest regions of the Great Lakes 

 States, the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast States, and 

 the Pacific Coast States, in the semiarid portions of the 

 western Great Plains, the Columbia Basin, and in the 

 central valley and foothills of California. Excepting 

 the Southern Highlands, these ai-e all regions of sparse 

 agricultural settlement, so that in many areas relatively 

 few farms are involved. 



In the poorer agricultural areas, characterized by 

 inade(|uate land resources and many destitute riual 

 people, it is thought that the interest of both individuals 

 and conununities would be best served if a ]iart, ranging 

 from one-lifth to most of the farmers, could be relocated 

 ultimately on better land or in other occupations, and 

 the poor hin<l retired from farming and devoted to scmie 

 other productive use. However, in very many cases 

 this relocation would consist in the transfer of settlers 

 from isolated locations on poor land to more compact 

 agricultural communities iieai'l)y, wiiere they could 



receive the benefits of community services, such as 

 roads and schools, at a cost which they could bear. 



In each of the areas of this kind it is recommended 

 that measures to prevent agricultiu-al occupancy of 

 poor laiul, not now in farms, and not agriculturally 

 desirable, be instituted. Such measures would involve 

 establishing constructive nonfarm uses for these lands. 



The desirability of retiring crop farms from agricul- 

 tural use in any area is contingent upon finding sonu> 

 alternative occupation or situation for the displaced 

 l)opulation which would bring about greater well- 

 being. The a])parent lack of such alternatives at the 

 present time has occasioned reluctance in some vStates 

 in designating areas where tliis adjustment should take 

 place. In most ])roi)osed i-etirement areas a gradual 

 elimination of crop fanning should take ])lace as o])- 

 l)ortunities arise, although certain areas of acute dis- 

 tress may require wholesale action of an emergency 

 nature. 



2. Instituting Constructive Use and Management of 

 Forest and Uiif -ore r Tjnidx. — The pi-oblem of instituting 

 constructive use of forest laiul was rejjorted in ail tlios(> 

 parts of the country where large bodies of forest or 

 cut-over land are found in private ownership. The 

 problem was not wideh" reported in those parts of the 

 Intermountain and Pacific States, where the forest is 

 principally in public ownership. 



The United States Forest Service recently undertook 

 a survey of desirable modifications in ownership, use, 

 and management of forest land. In reporting desirable 

 adjustments in forest-land use, particular attention was 

 given by the land-planning consultants to those situa- 

 tions wiiere the development of constructive manage- 

 ment of forest land would facilitate the continuance of 

 agriculture which would otherwise be decadent. Situ- 

 ations of this sort were reported m the forest regions of 

 each of the Pacific Coast States, and in many of the 

 forest regions of the Southern, the Appalachian, and the 

 Xortheastern States. 



The problems of forest land-use adjustment center 

 around the failure of forest land to contribute very 

 effectively to the support of communities, and around 

 the inadequacy of the forest resource near large con- 

 suming regions despite abundance of forest land. To 

 overcome these deficiencies, adjustments in manage- 

 ment and use of forest land must be facilitated, in most 

 instances by institutional adjustments, notably in 

 public fiscal policy. 



3. Increasing the Size of Farms in Order to Provide 

 Adequate Family Living and Permit Soil .\ fa inte nance. — 

 In certain regions an important percentage of the farms, 

 while they are on land capable of supporting cro]) 

 faiiuing, are too sniall to provide an adcciuate family 



