THE HELP THE GOVERNMENT OFFERS

Neil W. Johnson, Charles W. Loomer

IN EVERY State, in every county, on every farm in the United States men and women are constantly at work to extend their knowledge of grasslands.

The workers are the farmers and ranchers, whose questions about grass reflect their growing interest in it; State and Federal research scientists, who try to find the answers to the questions; and the persons in public and private agencies, who administer educational, financial, and other programs that have been established to improve grazing uses and to encourage the adoption of improved practices on public and private grasslands.

Several Government agencies carry on many types of research on problems related to farm grasslands, often in cooperation with State agricultural experiment stations.

The research worker seeks to know how each grass and hay crop is adapted to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, what its growth habits are in different localities, how it propagates itself, how palatable it is to various kinds of livestock, what its nutritive values are, how well it stands up under grazing, how many tons of hay it will yield, how many head of livestock it will carry when pastured, how to establish and maintain a grass cover. Knowing these things, he can help answer the intensely practical questions that farmers ask.

A whole series of studies tries to determine the losses of dry matter and feed nutrients during harvesting and storage. They inquire into changes in chemical composition and in color and leafiness of forage, and into the labor and machinery requirements for putting up the crop by different methods. Comparative feeding experiments are conducted to determine the value of each roughage for meat and milk production, its effect on the vitamin A content of milk, and on other nutritive properties of livestock products.

Related studies are made on how to fit the forage crop into a rotation and what effect it will have on the yield of subsequent crops. Other research is concerned with the effect of grass on soil properties. A growing appreciation of the value of legumes has given importance to investigations into the production of legume seed. Studies are made of the influence of environment, variety, and disease, and the effect of both beneficial and destructive insects. Special attention is given to the development of varieties and methods of management that will produce more satisfactory and reliable yields of seed.

Our Government, in cooperation with State agricultural experiment stations, also carries on intensive research in soil and water conservation, in which grass is an effective tool. There is progressive need to know just what combination of practices best suits each location under widely different conditions of soils and climate. Much of the work with the experiment stations is on a plot basis, and countless types of experiments are conducted under controlled conditions. The more promising experiments are carried to field trials and then to the final stage of testing under farm conditions. Only after results have been verified thus is a practice recommended for wide adoption.

In 29 conservation nurseries, agencies of the Department cooperate with State workers in testing the possibilities of native and introduced grasses, shrubs, and trees. Typical is the nursery at Pullman, Wash., where 500 to 1,000 varieties have been tested each year for the past 10 years. Seeds of the improved strains of soil-conserving crops are produced in volume at the nurseries and distributed to farmers. Work is carried on to determine the best methods of producing and processing legume seeds; this knowledge is made available to farmers, who can produce crops of seed for their own use or for sale.

In studies in more than 30 States,various sod crops have been introduced into farming systems for one or more years to determine the soil-building and soil-conserving values of different crop rotations. So, farmers are generally able to select from a number of tested systems the one that best fits their own needs.

Pasture renovation is studied intensively in all parts of the country. Attention is directed to the grasses that are best suited to pastures under different conditions of soil and climate, to methods of getting good stands, pasture management, and restoration of overgrazed pastures. Where water removal is a problem, special studies have been made to determine the suitability of different grasses for the construction of grassed waterways.

In scores of places a comprehensive program of economic research is conducted to evaluate developments associated with improvements in kinds and quality of forage and in breeding, feeding, and care of forage-consuming livestock. Methods of harvesting hay that reduce labor and preserve the quality of the crop are tested for their effects on the farmer's pocketbook. The economic implications of advances in the control of internal parasites, the elimination of insect pests of livestock, of the breeding of new types of livestock better adapted to southern climates, and of the extension of farm refrigeration by the use of cheap power are studied. Attention is also given to the current organization and the operation of farms, the amounts of capital required to make desirable adjustments, the market outlets for livestock products, income possibilities, and to long-time stability under new systems of farming. These analysis are designed to help the agricultural economy keep pace with changing physical developments and to reduce the costly trial-and-error experiments farmers have so often had to make for themselves.

The Government sometimes develops special programs to speed the correction of long-standing abuses. Reconnaissance surveys in the early 1930's, for instance, gave a rough idea of the extent and rapidity of soil depletion and indicated where restorative work was urgently needed. Problem areas were outlined, technical staffs assembled, research and educational programs initiated, demonstration areas established, and aid given individual farmers and ranchers for carrying out conservation practices.

Now about 7 out of every 10 farms in the United States, and more than 5 out of every 10 acres of farm land are within soil conservation districts in the 48 States. The farmer-managed districts are organized under State laws and are empowered to deal with the Secretary of Agriculture in obtaining various kinds of technical assistance for conserving the agricultural plant. Heavy equipment may be loaned to build terraces, assistance given to establish contour lines, planting materials supplied, advice offered regarding the most effective combinations of erosion-control practices, or aid given in developing annual and long-time farm plans.

The fields in which soil technicians operate are many and varied. They group soil types according to adaptability to various crops and methods of land management. They help farmers use both vegetative and mechanical measures to solve conservation problems. Methods of handling farm wood lots are demonstrated, and farmers are helped to develop a sustained yield of forest products. Farmers come to a better understanding of water in its relation to land, whether the problem is one of excess supply or of deficiency.

As part of a program that has been operating since 1936, through locally elected county and community committees in every county, Congress made more than a quarter of a billion dollars available to farmers and ranchers to encourage agricultural conservation practices in 1946. Forty-one percent of this sum was spent to lime soils and fertilize pastures, hay lands, and cover crops. More than 14 million acres were limed, about 20 million acres had applications of phosphates, and more than 6 million acres were treated with potash in the 1946 program. Farmers were given purchase orders for these materials and the Government furnished part of the cost of carrying out the practices.

Next to the program for improving soil fertility was that of erosion-control practices. Payments in 1946 were made for such practices as terracing a million and a half acres of cropland, contour farming more than 10 million acres, strip farming more than 6 million acres, and using special measures to protect from erosion the 14 million acres of summer fallow. Conservation funds were used to encourage the use of green manure and cover crops to protect soil from water and wind erosion, to restore plant food to the soil and to improve its texture. The latter program covered more than 18 million acres in 1946 and is especially important in East Central, North Central, and Southern States. Other conservation payments were used for practices designed to improve range and pasture lands.

In the 1946 appropriation for conservation, Congress provided special funds to encourage the harvesting of legume and grass seeds, many types of which have been in short supply. Payments were also made for control of perennial noxious weeds, improving or maintaining a stand of forest trees, clearance of land, and other miscellaneous conservation practices. The emphasis on these conservation practices varies widely from county to county. Local committees of farmers and technical workers determine from year to year the combination of practices they consider the most effective for conservation of soil and water resources in the locality and those for which payments will be offered.

Since 1933 the conversion from row crops to grassland agriculture has been particularly emphasized in the seven States of the Tennessee Valley. The shift to grass, livestock, and dairying is part of a larger program for water control and better use of resources. The principal instruments in this conversion are new phosphate fertilizers produced in the area, which in cooperation with Federal and State extension services have been tested and demonstrated on approximately 30,000 farms. The influence of this regional program extends beyond the Tennessee Valley, since nearly 6,000 test demonstration farms are scattered throughout 26 other States.

In a 10-year period, the total hay acreage of the 125 counties in the Tennessee watershed increased 136,000 acres, or 8 percent. Alfalfa accounted for 73,000 acres of this increase, expanding 226 percent from the 1934 acreage. In 15 counties in northern Alabama applications of phosphates and lime have made possible extension of improved pasture of from 10,001 to 111,214 acres in 10 years; perennial legumes have increased from 2,312 to 61,477 acres; and winter legumes from 79,930 to 288,392 acres. The production of legume seed increased similarly.

The results of this program have gone beyond increased acreages and yields. An improved grassland agriculture has been developed through good land use and soil, water, and crop management in which phosphate fertilizer has played an important part. Livestock enterprises have been added, together with necessary additions to power, machinery, and equipment. This has been accompanied by increases in the skill, knowledge, and judgment of the farmer and his family and by development of many kinds of cooperative community action.