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    "ocrText": "- 17 -\nAgriculture and the Future\nA Bigger\nDespite the remarkable advances in the productivity,\nJob\nstability, and security of our agriculture, many problems still\nremain to be solved. The task that agriculture is called upon\nto do increases in magnitude year by year.\nFewer\nThe farm population of the United States is now esti-\nFarmers\nmated at about 23 million persons, a decline of 6 million since\n1940, and of about 7 million since 1932. Today only about 15\npercent of the people of the United States live on farms, com-\npared with 22 percent in 1940 and more than 24 percent in 1932.\nMeanwhile, the total population of the country has grown from\n125 million in 1932 to approximately 156 million at the beginning\nof 1952.\nThe Fifth\nIf these trends are projected into the future, we may\nPlate\nexpect a farm population by 1975 of less than 20 million, while\nthe total population of the country is conservatively forecast\nat 190 million in 1975. In other words, for every four plates\nthe Nation's agriculture now fills, there will be five in less\nthan a quarter century.\nTo provide the same kind of diets in 1975 that our\npeople are enjoying today, our agriculture will need to increase\nmilk production by 30 billion pounds, an amount equal to the\npresent production of New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin.\nOur farms will have to produce 5/2 billion extra pounds\nof beef, veal, pork, lamb, and mutton: For pork alone this in-\ncrease is equal to the pig crop of Iowa and Nebraska in a recent\nyear.\nThey will have to produce 15 billion more eggs, plus\nlarger quantities of corn, wheat, vegetables, fruits, and many\nother crops.\n100,000,000\nOn the basis of average production per acre in 1945-49,\nAcres\nit will take 100 million acres of extra land to provide the ad-\nditional food to fill the five plates on American tables in 1975.\nThis is roughly equal to the combined farming areas of Wisconsin,\nMichigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.\nBetter\nAgriculture can do this job. It can provide for a rising\nLiving\nstandard of living for the Nation's growing population, even though\nless manpowor and not much new land will be available.\nTo do the job, American agriculture will need the con-\ntinued help of improved programs wherever possible.\nto"
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