ductivity than that still in production. As it happened, trees were 

 planted on some fields of greater productivity than some land par- 

 cels remaining in production. On the other hand, the general con- 

 clusion is that the Program did tend to concentrate the remaining 

 agricultural production on the more productive resources and in that 

 way it enhanced efficiency. 



Future Application to New England Agriculture 



The Conservation Reserve Program is the only current national pro- 

 gram that has contributed materially toward solution of the problems of 

 readjustment of people and land use in New England. Many parts of New 

 England are confronted with large numbers of undersized farm units that 

 have no possibility for expansion and with farms that are low in pro- 

 ductivity and poorly located with respect to assembly points, main high- 

 ways, and major farm communities. Considerable social benefit could be 

 gained in New England by continuance of the Program for a number of 

 years if the emphasis were primarily on the objective of facilitating re- 

 source conservation through resource adjustment. 



To enable the Program to function more efficiently in the adjustment of 

 resource use, some modifications in the Program might be made with re- 

 spect to the selection of resources to be withdrawn from agricultural pro- 

 duction and to having planted to trees some acreage that is of greater 

 productivity than nearby acreage still in cultivation. To increase the 

 efficiency of the resource reallocation aspects of the Program, the follow- 

 ing Program modifications might be made: 



1. Permit town governments to buy farms and enroll them in the Pro- 

 gram. 



2. Empower a local committee to give preference to the applications 

 from farmers whose acreages are low in productivity and poorly 

 located with respect to assembly points, main highways, and major 

 farm communities. 



3. Empower a local committee to prevent planting of trees on tracts of 

 land of high productive capacity and of economic size for cropping 

 purposes. 



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