Rural Youth 



VISIT 



S. Dakota 



By ELLSWORTH D. LYON, Director 



Young Peoples Activities 



BEAUTIFUL landscapes and grow'- 

 ing crops were not the only vivid 

 impressions reported by Illinois 

 Rural Youth state committee mem- 

 bers from their trip to the Mid- 

 west Farm Bureau Training School at 

 Custer, S. D. 



Rural Youthers attending from Illinois 

 were three members of the state com- 

 mittee: Janet Jacobsen, Bureau; Doreen 

 Marti, Bond, also on national committee; 

 Bob Sievers, Rock Island, and Ruth 

 Huser, Tazewell, on state and national 

 committees in 1948. 



Evidence of soil erosion drew many 

 comments from the Rural Youthers. Good 

 soil practices and land use were seen 

 along the way, but the problem of soil 

 erosion viewed was so great that members 

 said it ought to be stressed in the lAA 

 Record Rural Youth page. 



Ditches, sheet erosion on sloping land, 

 and layers of fine, black, rich silt loam 

 soil piled in low areas were unforgettable 

 evidence of neglect noted. 



"Why," the young people asked, "do 

 farmers let this process of erosion go on .' 

 Why do they keep these scjuare fields? 

 Why do they plow up and down the 

 hills.'" 



In some areas there was no conscious 

 effort at soil conservation. In some fields 

 farther on there were grass waterways 

 only, with the same square fields and 

 equal disregard of contouring and strip 

 cropping. One feature causing much 

 comment from the young people was a 

 plowed field (not on the contour) having 

 a long hill with a ravine running down 

 through it. In the ravine was a series of 

 dams. Each dam contained water and 

 much silt. 



"Well, that's a beginning," Bob said, 

 "but it doesn't go far enough. If that 

 farmer had only plowed on the contour, 

 the dams would help." 



A frequent occurrence was to come 

 upon deposits of rich soil on the highway 

 pavement. In some spots the shoulders 

 are higher than the pavement because of 

 the deposits from fields and because of 

 the transfer of the silt from the pavement 

 to the roadside by highway workers. Easy 



lAA Organization Director O. D, Brissenden 

 (left) answers quettlon* on Farm Bureau 

 put to hint by tlx Kural Youthers during 

 MldweMt farm Bureau Training School held 

 at Cutter, S. D., latl month, Lett to right, 

 fating eamera: Bob SleverM, Rock Island 

 tounty, Illinois; Darwin Jessen, South Do- 

 koto; and Neva Crane, Indiana. Facing 

 Brissenden, are Eugene H, Bohne, Wiscon- 

 sin; Alice teusse, Michigan; and Lucy John- 

 son, Iowa. 



Bob Sievers, Reck Island county, points to 

 a flagrant example of soil erosion wliere 

 black topsoll has been washed down from 

 a soybean field In Iowa, Sievers was en 

 route to the Midwest farm Bureau Training 

 School at Custer,. S, D. 



to see was the elevation of piled up 

 shifted soil above fences, while below the 

 fence there is a drop of from one to three 

 feet. 



"Look at that river," came from the 

 rear seat. Janet's close observation caught 

 this sight. We looked. The edge of the 

 muddy river bed was a deep deposit of 

 topsoil from areas which could not afford 

 to lose it. 



A soybean field with rows pointing di- 

 rectly up the hill had lost a big load of 

 its never-to-be-regained topsoil to let it go 

 down to the foot of the hill near the 

 highway. Here some of it was held by a 

 rapidly flowing side ditch where it had 

 settled to form a steep, sloping edge. 



One of the conclusions reached by the 

 young people as to the cause of so much 

 erosion was that there had been a recent 

 heavy rain and the farmers were not pre- 

 pared for it. 



"But," they asked, "why were they not 

 prepared for it.' Were they thinking 

 only of getting money and not of putting 

 something back into the soil.'" 



Ruth asked, "Gin't a farmer see what 

 is happening to his land when he looks 

 at gullies, soil shifted down to pile up 



against fences, and the soil deposits in 

 the lowland.'" 



Doreen wondered what will happen to 

 future generations if erosion continues as 

 we saw it. We talked of lower farm in- 

 comes which will result and must now 

 actually be a fact. We discussed the 

 problems of poor teeth, impaired health, 

 lowering of standards of living and of 

 civilization itself being endangered. We 

 all felt sorry for the farm family so care- 

 less or uninformed of good farming prac- 

 tices as to permit the processes of erosion 

 to rob this and future generations. 



We discussed what Rural Youth can 

 do about the problem. Our group feels 

 that Rural Youth will really change this 

 whole problem before it is too late. "Let's 

 study soil conservation more in the fu- 

 ture." 



At The Farm Bureau Conference, Illi- 

 nois Rural Youthers were soon absorbed 

 into the group of around 300 farm youths 

 from the Midwest. O. D. Brissenden, 

 lAA organization director, gave the key- 

 note address before the Youth Confer- 

 ence, speaking upon the theme, "Com- 

 munity Service as a Rural Youth Goal." 

 He led the discussion on such important 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



