WAR 



MOST people know the story of how 

 our soils were depleted to meet 

 the food needs of World War I. 

 Today the cycle is being repeated on 

 a vaster scale than in 1914-18. Bet- 

 ter yields through the use of improved 

 seed and favorable weather for seven 

 crop years have tended to hide the real 

 danger of soil mineral depletion.. 



In view of this trend which threat- 

 ens our national security, the American 

 Farm Bureau Federation executive com- 

 mittee in January authorized a staff 

 committee to make a study of our 

 national fertilizer needs and resources. 

 The staff committee has prepared a re- 

 port of its intensive study, and while 

 the complete recommendations cannot 

 be fully publicized at this date, there 

 are some findings which deserve 

 thoughtful consideration. 



In making the report the AFBF staff 

 committee has kept in mind these three 

 essential points: 



1. Soil fertility is our nation's most 

 fundamental capital resource, the main- 

 tenance of which is essential to our 

 national security. 



2. The backbone of soil fertility con- 

 sists of exhaustible soil minerals. As 

 the supply of these diminishes, it be- 

 comes increasingly difficult to produce 

 balanced rations and diets combining 

 adequate amounts of proteins, min- 

 erals, and vitamins — a situation lead- 

 ing to dependence upon the produc- 

 tion of cultivated carbonaceous crops 

 (corn, oats, etc.). The effect of this 

 transition is to hasten the depletion 

 of the fertility resources. 



3. Sound public policy, therefore, 

 should be such as will insure to farm- 

 ers the adequate amount and the kind 

 of mineral fertilizer to meet their 

 needs. 



If such a policy is made effective, 

 (1) farmers can become independent 

 of the need for expanding their acreage 

 of cultivated crops; (2) our land, 

 labor, and equipment can be applied 

 with increasing efficiency in terms of 

 a rising standard of living for agricul- 

 ture, and the production of a balanced 

 and nutritious national diet. 



Such a policy — whatever else is 

 required — is basic to the social, eco- 

 nomic, and political welfare of farm 

 people everywhere. 



In studying fertilizer needs, the com- 

 mittee came to three definite conclu- 

 sions : 



1. That, assuming wise utilization of 

 war constructed ammonia plants, exist- 

 ing capacity to produce chemical nitro- 



BRINGS son DEPLETION 



f 



AFBF COMMITTEE MAKES STUDY OF NATIONAL FERTILIZER 

 NEEDS AND RESOURCES — SOME PARTIAL FINDINGS 



gen fertilizer is now adequate to meet 

 the immediate and prospective demands 

 of agriculture. 



2. That, however, plant facilities to 

 produce both potash and phosphate 

 must be expanded substantially. 



3. That the need for initiating steps 

 to achieve such expansion is urgently 

 related to our security as a nation. 



The committee's report emphasizes 

 that the depletion of soil fertility is 

 not just a wartime problem. Wartime 

 demands for increased production 

 highlights the problem and centers 

 more attention on it. War speeds up 

 the fearful process of exploitation. 



Some impression of the extent of 

 the draft upon the soils fertility, re- 

 sulting from a continuous cropping sys- 

 tem, may be gained from the results 

 of the classic Morrow plots at the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois. 



In a period of 40 years without min- 

 eral treatments the yield in corn and 

 oats in rotation declined about 40 per 

 cent. During the first 16 years they 

 declined about 20 per cent. These 

 plots are located on some of the best 

 land in Illinois. 



The committee points out that farm- 

 ers need not be deceived by the fact 

 that production yields calculated on a 

 state average basis have continued to 

 be high, a fact attributable to spectac- 

 ular developments in plant genetics, 

 in methods of tillage, and to the ex- 

 pansion and shifting of acreages in 

 cultivation. 



The extent to which we are now ex- 

 porting fertility throws considerable 

 light upon the scale of our current de- 

 pletion problem. 



Since war broke out we have already 

 exported approximately 25 per cent of 



Phosphate Removed From Soil By Specific Crops and Returned 

 By Fertilizer In Illinois, 1938-43. | ^ 



1000 

 lonj 



200 



190 



100 



Removed by 

 Soybeans 



H« y 



Small Grains 

 Corn 



Returned by 



Fertilizer 

 and Rock 

 Phosphate' 



1938 



1939 



1940 



1941 



1942 



1943 



This chart shows phosphorus expressed 

 in terms of phosphoric acid removed 

 irom Illinois soils irom 1938 to 1943 by 

 specific crops and addition of i^osphoric 

 acid to the soil by use of cenunerciol fer- 



tiliser including raw rock phosphate. 

 Phosphoric odd available from rock phos- 

 phate is based upon 50 per cent becom- 

 ing available within 10 years after oppli- 

 cation. 



1000 ■ 

 tons 



200 ' 



150 



100- 



so- 



le 



L A. A. RECORD 



