Potash Removed From Sofl By Specific Crops and Amount 

 Returned By Fertilizer In Illinois, 1938-43. 



1000 

 tons 



Removed by 

 Soybeans 



-Hay 



Returned by 

 Fertilizer 



1938 



1939 



1940 



1941 



1942 



1943 



ThU chort shows potassium expressed in 

 terms ol potash remoTed from Illi- 

 nois soils irom 1938 to 1943 by specific 



crops and the amount returned to the soil 

 by the commercial iertilisers. 



our annual food production, represent- 

 ing about 434,000 tons of phosphate 

 and 593,000 tons of potash. For some 

 time, beginning before Pearl Harbor, 

 we have been shipping substantial 

 quantities of phosphate in concentrated 

 phosphates. More recently 10 per cent 

 of our total potash production has 

 been earmarked for export. 



For reasons of military secrecy the 

 committee did not have access to fig- 

 ures indicating the amount of phos- 

 phorus diverted to munition uses 

 which would otherwise be domestically 

 utilized as plant food. 



These figures were cited by the com- 

 mittee as indications of the variety 

 of ways in which war has taxed the 

 fertility resources of the soil; they 

 likewise give some indication as to the 

 dimensions of the job which now con- 

 cerns us. 



Based on an interpretation of the ex- 

 periences resulting from 40,000 test 

 demonstration farms, the Land Grant 

 College Association concluded in a 

 recent report that a three-fold expan- 

 sion in phosphate plant capacity 

 would be necessary to make it possible 

 for all farmers in the humid and ir- 

 rigated regions of the United States to 

 follow the example established on test 

 demonstration farms. In quantitative 

 terms, the amount so required is 3Vi 

 million tons of P205. This P205 is equal 

 to 17,500,000 tons of 20 per cent super 

 phosphate. Last year a little better 

 than a million tons of phosphate were 

 put on our soils in the United States. 



Recognized authorities in the field 

 estimate that the country needs an 

 annual minimum of ly^ million tons 

 of potash. Last year farmers put on 

 630,000 tons. 



It is noted that whereas phosphorus 

 deficiencies are almost universal, potash 

 deficiency now seems to be most acute 

 in the production of intensive crops 

 and more generally throughout the 

 north central states. 



AFBF — Co-opfSetUp 



Research Association 



DR. George Scarseth, chief in agrono- 

 my, Purdue University, has been en- 

 gaged as director of research of the 

 newly formed American Farm Re- 

 search Association, according to an an- 

 nouncement from the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation. 



Farm Bureau members who attended 

 the lAA convention last year will 

 remember Dr. Scarseth as one of the 

 outstanding speakers at the soil im- 

 provement conference. 



The new association, with head- 

 quarters in the AFBF offices at Chica- 

 go, is jointly sponsored, financed and 

 managed by the AFBF and 10 charter 

 members of statewide cooperative farm 

 supply purchasing organizations. Illi- 

 nois Farm Supply Company is one of 

 these charter members and C. H. Beck- 

 er, manager, is on the board of the 

 association, as well as Earl C. Smith, 

 lAA president, and AFBF vice-presi- 

 dent. It is contemplated that addition- 



al state associations will seek member- 

 ship in the American Farm Research 

 Association. 



According to John W. Sims, operat- 

 ing manager of the Ohio Farm Bureau 

 Cooperative Association, and president 

 of the new organization, this research 

 program "springs from a growing 

 awareness on the part of many Farm 

 Bureau cooperative associations for the 

 need of a better understanding and 

 application of existing data." 



Sims made it clear, however, that 

 this program will not engage in actual 

 physical research, but will serve as a 

 coordinating agency to gather and cata- 

 log existing research data from the 

 land grant colleges, and with this, serve 

 and advise member associations on 

 their practical problems. 



The research program will use and 

 support the work of the land grant 

 colleges and may point the need for 

 new and amplifying research studies 

 in the field of livestock feeds and feed- 

 ing, plant foods, and farm fuels and 

 lubricants. It is the plan of the asso- 

 ciation to begin on these fields first, 

 and probably research in other lines 

 will follow. 



The association's policies will be un- 

 der the general direction of its board, 

 consisting of one director from each 

 participating association and three re- 

 presentatives of the AFBF. 



To get their program started, the 

 board of directors have already ap- 

 pointed three active committees to as- 

 sist Dr. Scarseth. A committee on farm 

 fuels and lubricants under the chair- 

 manship of C. H. Becker, IFS mana- 

 ger; a committee on livestock feeds 

 and feedihg under the chairmanship of 

 B. A. Rainey, Michigan Farm Bureau 

 Services, and a committee on plant 



{Continued on page 25) - • • 



Dr. jGeorge Scarseth, chiei in ogronomy. 

 Purdue Umversity, who has been engaged 

 OM director oi research oi the newly 

 iormed American Farm Research Associa- 

 tion, chats with John R. Spencw. lAA di- 

 rector oi soil improvement, at the Midweat 

 conierence. 



JULY-AUGUST. 1944 



17 



