June, 1939] The Agricultural Conservation Program in N. H. 31 



Area C^^ represents areas where commercial dairying is definitely 

 handicapped and the industry is on the decline. This area with 27 

 per cent of the land area accounted for $4,900 or 12 per cent of the 

 payments for soil improvement. 



Thus approximately $5,000 in payments for soil improvement prac- 

 tices went into areas where commercial dairying in general has severe 

 handicaps and is slowly declining. It should be noted, however, that a 

 few farms in these areas will survive for many years. 



Then, too, there are poor farms interspersed among good farms in 

 good areas, and these also may be receiving money for soil-building 

 practices. In these instances, there is a tendency for abandoned tillage 

 fields and pasture to be incorporated with adjoining good farms and 

 used as pasture. In such instances, the present uses of conservation 

 practices will make the fields more valuable and there is no social loss. 



From a long-time point of view probably a large part of the $5,000 

 going into Area C represents a social loss in that the fields may be aban- 

 doned in a few years. In some instances the conservation payments 

 may be an influence delaying abandonment and hindering normal 

 trends. Until land has been definitely classified and this classification 

 definitely accepted by local people, we may need to give each individual 

 a chance to develop the available opportunities as he sees them and in 

 spite of possible social losses. However, educational processes in the 

 nature of land use problems and the raising of questions regarding the 

 best adjustment of people to resources can tend to guide the use of the 

 conservation money into productive channels. 



It is well to note here that social loss of conservation money is not 

 confined to marginal or submarginal areas. Often the very best farms 

 are taken over by summer people or residents who are not interested in 

 the fields. 



It will be in the long-time social interest to abandon the farms which 

 represent no opportunities, but we must investigate the situation care- 

 fully and weigh the advice and experience of local people before definite 

 decisions are made. 



Recognizing the short-time needs of occupants of submarginal farms 

 it may be well to have a short-time policy on tillage land improvement 

 and a long-time policy for timber management. Thus soil practices 

 leading to immediate income without regard to permanent soil improve- 

 ment might be justified. 



In the meantime it would seem wise for the Agricultural Adjustment 

 Administration to construct a program based on the best information 

 now available so that one type of program would ease agricultural land 

 without production opportunities out of agricultural use and another 

 type of program would tend to build up the productive capacity of the 

 remaining land. In areas where agriculture is greatly handicapped, no 

 compulsion would be undertaken and no restrictions made as to the in- 

 dividual 's choice of practices ; but the administrators could through edu- 

 cational processes question the individual's program, and finally place 

 the individual who follows an uneconomic program on the defensive. 

 There will be instances where individual farms in a declining agricul- 



" Areas V and VI in type-of -farming study (unpublished). 



