A32—Lancaster Farminc, Saturday, March 27,1982
Outstanding
conservationists
(Continued from Page A2B)
look to the future, Gray reviewed
what happened to conservation
farming during the past 20 years.
He noted that during the 19605,
surpluses created the atmosphere
which led to farmers being en
couraged to keep land out of
production. Then, in the 19705, an
increased export demand set the
pace for fencerow to fencerow
farming.
“During the 19705, one out of
every ten acres of crops was ex
ported. Today that figure has
jumped to one out of every three
acres. And in ten more years, there
won’t be any surpluses because of
the growing world-wide demand
for food,” commented Gray. “As a
result, there’ll be tremendous
pressures put on our land base.”
Along with the increased
production occurmg on the nation’s
cropland. Gray also expressed his
concern that erosion has been
increasing.
“During the past five years the
erosion rate in the U.S. has been
greater than it’s ever been since
the Dust Bowl,” he remarked.
“Today we’re losing 5 tons of soil
on each acre that’s more than %
of our cropland.”
Erosion is not the only problem
threatening the nation’s farmland,
according to Gray. Land con
version also is of grave concern.
He cited the exodus of people and
industry from urban to suburban
and rural areas which has in
creased competition with fanners
for land.
Gray estimated that 1 million
acres of cropland are taken out of
agriculture each year through
conversion. An additional 1 million
acres is lost through soil erosion.
He stressed that these figures
represent the loss of prime
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agricultural land if all the land
lost to erosion and conversion was
tallied, the figures would be
considerably higher.
“The U.S. has 2.2 billion acres of
cropland within its borders, but
only a small chunk of that is
productive land about 20 per
cent. This prune agricultural land
is not a big amount, but it’s im
portant because it is the un
derpinning for our nation’s
economy.
“If farmers can’t make a living
on good land, they certainly won’t
be able to make anything on
marginal land.”
To help save the best farmland,
Gray recommended that farmers
work with local officials and land
development organizations to
deflect population and industrial
growth away from these key areas.
He encouraged legislation to
provide legal protection of far
mland at the local, county, and
state levels.
In his work with the American
Farmland Trust, Gray explained
this private, nonprofit organization
is working towards finding
solutions to the nation’s erosion
problems. He noted that his group ,
is not hobbled by the bureaucracy
and red tape that ties up govern
ment progress in finding the
needed answers.
“It’s still going to take tune,”
Gray admitted. “There’s no magic
wand. But erosion and conversion
of our nation’s farmland will
continue unless we fmd solutions to
turn these problems around.
What’s important is that we figure
out which solution —ag districting,
tax credits, or combinations of
these ideas works best in any
particular area.”
In closing, Gray shared with the
group the wisdom printed on a
plaque in his dentil’s office
“Ignore your teeth and they’ll go
away.”
Paraphrasing this idea and
molding it to his conservation
sentiments, Gray concluded,
“Ignore your land and it will go
away.”
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(Continued from Pace Al)
Agriculture Richard Lyng’s op- across the nation. Feed dealers,
tumsm following the symposium. producers, co-op leaders and
Lyng, who chaired the first-day handlers arrived with the
activities, said he was “quite attitude, said Lyng. All recognized
pleased,” with the interest that a problem existed and the
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