UTILIZATION OF THE LAND AREA OF THE UNITED STATES 1919 FIG. 9. UTILIZATION OF THE LAND AREA OF THE UNITED STATES 11 Our Food Supply Taylor in a very valuable survey entitled, Agriculture and Population Increases, 12 thinks that we shall be able to produce adequate food to provide for the estimated population of 175,000,000 in 1980, provided some improvements are made as well as some changes in diet. He visualizes the domestic animal situation somewhat as follows:18 Present and future consumption of meat as compared with that of prewar Europe is shown below, in pounds per capita :14 Horses we shall regard as constant, since against the future enlargement of acreage we may set the future development of mechanical traction. Probably 5 million more cattle and 40 million more sheep would be required; the count of swine would remain the same. As efficiencies are attained, the per capita figure for animals will decline. Each animal unit [animal unit equals I head of horses or cattle, I of hogs, 12 of sheep] now requires about two acres in harvested crops. Twelve million additional animal units would therefore represent some 25 million additional acres at present yields; but with a 10 per cent increase of efficiency of yield in POTENTIAL USES OF LAND AREA LAND THAT CAN BE USED ONLY FOR FOREST, FIG. 10. POTENTIAL USES OF LAND AREA OF UNITED STATES 15 Land that can be used only for forest, only for grazing; land capable of use for crops; land in other uses; and waste land. the next fifty years, the acres now devoted to animals would carry the estimated number. The additional acreage necessary for the additional wheat, coarse grains, and other primary foodstuffs previously discussed, could not be over 25 million acres. With increase in yields of 20 per cent in the next fifty years the projected population could be carried on the present acreage.16 Fifty million acres must be added then, for harvested crops, and this Taylor thinks is easily possible. In as much as he is one of our best authorities on food his conclusion is doubly significant: "When the ultimate population of the United States reaches 200 million, one does not see how the country can raise the desired primary foods, domesticated animals, lumber, paper and fibers." 17 Just how much improvement can be effected by raising the average of our stock no one can tell. Some years ago Fraser wrote that a dairy cow not producing yearly 4,000 pounds of milk containing 160 pounds of butter fat was kept at a loss, and then proceeded to divide our cattle into three groups on the basis of production: Taylor estimates that the average milk production per cow can be increased from our 4,100 to 4,500 average of to-day to the 6,000 pound average now secured in Holland, Switzerland, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The beef cattle should produce 130 pounds of edible meat per year instead of the 110 now secured. If the number of pigs per litter raised to maturity can be increased from the present number of 3.5 to 4 or 5 the gain will be obvious. Per Capita Food Production The chart in Figure 11 shows that the per acre yield of the chief grains is much higher in Europe than in America. The actual figures for wheat are Germany 31.7 bushels, United FIG. II. AVERAGE YIELDS PER ACRE, 1909-1913, OF SEVEN IM PORTANT CROPS IN FOUR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES EXPRESSED IN Kingdom 32.4, Belgium 37, Canada 19, United States 14. The low figures of Canada and the United States must be considered in light of the fact that in the European lands 278 per cent more labor is employed per unit of land. “In these countries the extra expenditure is proportionately greater than the increase of yield so that the yield per unit of labor is much smaller than in the United States." 20 The following table21 shows the contrast both in the degree to which domestic animals are used and in the product per worker: |