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but it should not be assumed that some day we cannot get 

 additional food from these poor soils. In fact, plans may be 

 devised to get large amounts of food from them. 



The production of food per man on most poor soils is low 

 and on the good soils it is high. However, some poor lands 

 have high productivity per man. This is the case on the Great 

 Plains area and in the great open spaces of the Mountain 

 States. In these areas farmers have adjusted their intensity 

 of operation and type of farming to farms with thousands 

 of acres. 



With a shortage of food, a shortage of good land, a shortage 

 of labor, and a shortage of machinery, what should be the 

 nation's policy regarding the allocation of the scarce factors 

 of production? 



Farmers' experience and farm-management studies indi- 

 cate that added applications of manpower, machinery, ferti- 

 lizer, and the like yield more food when applied to the better 

 lands than to the poor lands. Under a rationed economy there 

 is a tendency to treat the good and the poor land alike or even 

 to treat the poor better because it is poor. If the selective 

 draft were selective enough, it would select more boys from 

 the poor land for the army and leave more boys on the good 

 lands to produce food. 



The allocation of farm machinery, fertilizer, farm supplies, 

 sprays, and the like tends to be on a share and share alike 

 basis. If maximum food production is desired, the scarce in- 

 struments of production should be largely concentrated on 

 the good to fair lands at the expense of the poor lands. 



These recommendations would appear to operate to the 

 disadvantage of the operators of poor farms. These men 

 should find employment on good farms or in war industries 

 where labor is scarce and wages are high. 



