not price changes result. The loss of value may be even more 
serious to the general public than to the farmer. It would 
not be possible immediately to sell greatly increased quanti- 
ties of products except at lower prices, but in the next 25 
years markets can be expected to expand considerably with 
continued population growth accompanying general economic 
growth. The Bureau of the Census now estimates an increase 
of 25 to hO percent in the United States population by 1975 
over that in 1953. Economical ways of meeting the require-= 
ments of a rapidly growing population must be found. 
A summary of the losses in agriculture is presented in Table 
35. The estimates given in this and other tables in the report 
are conservative and incomplete, and most of them are tenta- 
tives many are judgment estimates based on admittedly limited 
information. 
Losses to crops during production due to insects and diseases, 
mechanical damage, hail, weeds, and inadequate harvesting 
amount to about $8.3 billion annually in value of products 
lost. These losses constitute 20 percent of the potential 
production ($1 billion) of all farms and forest growth. They 
are equivalent to the potential production from nearly 88 million 
acres. Our average harvested cropland was nearly 358 million acres. 
Diseases reduce the total value of crops by $2.8 billion, or 
about 7 percent of the potential production of all farms and 
forest growth. Insects cause a loss of nearly $2 billion in 
the value of crops, or about 5 percent of the potential produc- 
tion. Losses due to mechanical damage, hail, and weeds reduce 
the value of crops by $2. billion, or about 6 percent of the 
potential production. Losses and waste during harvesting 
amount to $1.1 billion, or about 3 percent of the potential 
production. 
Pasture and range lands are subject to various hazards, ine 
cluding plant diseases, fire, grasshoppers, and weeds. Losses 
from such hazards, first in the form of feed and eventually in 
reduced numbers and weight of livestock, amount to $981 million 
annually, or 2 percent of the total value of the Nation's farm 
and forest products. This is about 17 percent of the value of 
the potential pasture and range production. These losses equal 
the potential production of nearly 15 million acres. Livestock 
losses charged to pasture and range are equivalent to the 
potential production of 126 million acres additional. The 
total acreage of these lands was 1,020 million. 
After crops are produced, they are subject to losses in storage, 
marketing, and processing, and in the sickness and death of some 
of the livestock to which they are fed. Rodents and rots destroy 
$382 million worth of stored crops, and insects reduce values 
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