The following article from the April 25th issue of NEWSWEEK has been 

 reproduced for distribution with the permission of the publishers. 



-SCIENCE- 



Food: Not Less, l)iit More 



Rrliiiid each mouthful we eat, behind 

 the (a?riur, the food proeessoi, and the 

 suiieiinarket, stands a little-publicized 

 but critically important line of endeavor- 

 agricultural research. Within a genera- 

 tion, the men of this quietly phenomenal 

 science have put a meaty abundance on 

 the American dinner table envied by 

 all the world. 



But with miracles come huge prob- 

 lems. From a glance at the current U.S. 

 farm surplus, one might conclude that 

 science and mechanization have lured 

 the farmer into overproduction. The truth 

 is far from this. The embarrassing pile-np 

 of wheat, corn, biiltcr, etc., is destined 

 to vanisli soon 



One good drouglit could do it. bi an\ 

 case, it will soon be eaten awa>- as the 

 population boom adds 2.5 million mouths 

 a year to the national stomach. If these 

 mouths are to be fed, farmers must be- 

 come luuch more .scientific than even the 

 best of them are toda\'. 



7)1 the follonina, special report, hased 

 on talks with fop authorities in the flch!, 

 Newsweiok sc:ipn(;k Editor Richard K. 

 Winshno fells oj the marvels alreadti 

 achieved htj ap,rieiilliiral research and of 

 the knottij problems still to he solved: 



LAST week a canny Iowa farm manager, 

 I an old hand at "selling" research, put 

 his finger on the changed mood that has 

 revolutionized American farming. 



"Before the war, the county agent 

 needed several sea.sons to put across a 

 proven point on soil care or insect con- 

 trol. Most tarmers would wait tor the 

 fellow dow n the road to try it first. To- 

 da>-, it's the other way around. A farmer 

 snoops around an experiment station, 

 then rushes back to try .some discovery 

 that the scientists haven't half tested." 



For the 19.55 season, this scienre- 

 miuded larnier has a bimiper crop of 

 frcsli wonders to keep his c\'c on. 



A .Midwest expeiiment station is about 

 to release a strain of corn with husks so 

 tough a bird can't peck through. It will 

 also fend off its old enem\-, the borer. 



Since January, American cattlemen 

 have been slipping a female se.x hor- 

 mone, stilbestrol, to 2 million steers to 

 make them bigger (juicker on less feed 

 (an DiH'ration. scientists sa\', that will 

 not adcct a steak-lover's manhood). 



Breeders also are talking serioush- ot 

 impregnating 200,()()() cows With the 

 frozen semen of a single prize bull. 



In New York City, a chemist is taking 

 the last kinks out of an edible sugar- 

 based detergent made from cane and 

 beet sugar. Soap and soap powders con- 

 taining it do not leave rings arovmd the 

 bathtub, do not sting the eyes- and wash 

 spinach thoroughh'. 



3lor<>. ^lorc: To .some experts— the 

 ones who can see beyond the misleading 

 mountains of today's surpluses— such ad- 

 vances are deceptive. They are not 

 nearly enough to assure that U.S. agri- 

 culture will continue to get its job done. 



One of these men. Dr. Byron T. Shaw\ 

 farm re.search chief of the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agricultjire, estimates that, if thq 

 average American is to contiinie to have 

 as much meat to eat as he did last year, 

 all acreage that is currentK- idle will have 

 to be back at work by 1960. By 1975, 

 even if all marginal lands are used, there 

 might be a deficit of more than 100 mil- 

 lion acres. To meet this, livestock prod\ic- 

 tion alone will have to be nearly doubled 

 on the land at hand. 



But the output of tlie hard-pressed 

 hen, for example, has already been 

 pushed from an average 100 eggs a year 



to 180. Broilers have 70 per cent more 

 meat on them. For further big increases, 

 the hen and her rations— already nutri- 

 tional dynamite— will have to undergo 

 some serious redesigning. 



ttifi Pu.<<li: To improve and broaden 

 agricultural research, the National Farm 

 Chemurgic Council- a group ot inH"en- 

 tial farm, industry, scientific nid govern- 

 ment leadeis is launching a concerted 

 campaign on many fronts this month. This 

 is the group which has long pioneered in 

 promotiiy; industrial uses tor siich items 

 as corncobs, soybeans, peanuts, and other 

 farm products. They have made such a 

 dramatic success of this that these prod- 

 ucts now account for 8 per cent of the 

 $30 billion total farm sales. However the 

 chances for further expansion along these 

 lines look dim in view of the mounting 

 competition from petroleum derivatives. 

 So the council is currently broadening its 

 scope to embrace all a.spects of agricul- 

 tural study, from the test tube to the con- 

 sumer's palate. (To emphasize this, it is 

 changing its name to the Council for 

 Agricultural and Chemurgic Research.) 



The council's president, Henry T. 

 McKnight, a "Virginia cattle raiser, is 

 alarmed by the not-too-surprising fact 

 that industry's investment in research is 



KevoliiMoii al llie Dinner Tahle 



In just 30 N'cars there have been big changes in what Americans eat and 

 the way it is produced on the farm. Some of the most startling shifts: 



INewsweek, .April 2.'>. 19.'>.'> 



