in the United States is in farms, crops were harvested from 

 less than a third of that land in 1939, a good crop year. There- 

 fore, of the total area of land in the United States, less than 

 one fifth was harvested cropland. 



TABLE 1. DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN FARMS, 1939 * 



* : Census of the United States, 1940: Agriculture, United States Summary, United 



States Department of Commerce, page 10, 1941. 



t Farm wood lots or timber tracts, natural or planted, and cutover land with young growth. 



t Pastureland other than plowable and woodland pasture; wasteland, house yards and 

 barnyards, feed lots, lanes, roads, etc. 



That year the nation harvested crops from 321 million 

 acres. There were 78 million additional acres of cropland that 

 produced nothing. This area, which represents about one fifth 

 of the crop acreage, was idle or not harvested because of nor- 

 mal fallowing practices, AAA policies, wind, hail, drought, 

 floods, insects, disease, low prices, or lack of labor. 



The plowable pastures, woodland, and other lands, which 

 include non-plowable pasture, wasteland, house yards and 

 barnyards, feed lots, lanes, and the like, represent over sixty 

 per cent of the land in farms, and over twice the harvested 

 crop area. 



As far as expanding our food supply is concerned, the 

 amount of idle or fallow land could be somewhat reduced and 

 a small portion of the plowable pasture could be cultivated. 



