Farm adjustments to meet war impacts

The adjustments suggested aim toward producing more products for domestic consumption; also toward shifting to products most needed in the diet of both rural and urban families. Consumption of these products may need the stimulation of programs such as the Food Stamp Plan, or variations of it, to keep pace with increased production. In areas where land resources are entirely too limited to support the present rural population, avenues of escape should be opened up by education (especially by vocational training) and employment recruiting for the nonfarm work that may develop through the defense program. Proper safeguards are needed against creating new slums as an aftermath of the present defense emergency. It will take several years to carry out some of the suggested adjustments. Many will require new investments, and that problem must be approached carefully because of the danger of going into debt to produce for a market that might disappear after the defense emergency is over. However, some of the more fundamental adjustments, such as shifts away from cotton and wheat and into livestock and other domestically consumed products, appear to be of permanent rather than transient character. These should be facilitated by national programs if necessary. More research information is required to facilitate some of these adjustments. Outstanding contributions to a more permanent and more stable agriculture in this country would be made by developing hay and pasture grasses that will grow on the poor hill lands of the South and on the poorer lands of the Northeast without requiring larger expenditures for fertilizer than the value of the product will stand. Feasible and economical methods for regrassing the more hazardous crop areas of the Great Plains are also badly needed.