Protecting the soil resource base

CITIZENS of the United States have long recognized the unique gift of land bestowed on this nation. Ample land resources, particularly highly productive cropland, have contributed much to this nation's economic development and the prosperity enjoyed by successive generations. As the year 2000 approaches, however, mounting evidence suggests that the cropland resource base may be unable to satisfy projected domestic and foreign demands for food and fiber without substantial increases in the real price of food. The physical capacity to produce food at reasonable cost may even become questionable if erosion and farmland conversion trends continue unabated through the remainder of this century. The soil resource base The total land and water area of the United States is 2.26 billion acres. In 1977, of 1.5 billion acres of rural, nonfederal land and small water bodies in the United States and the Caribbean area, 27 percent was cropland (413 million acres), 9 percent was pasture and native pasture (133 million acres), 27 percent was rangeland (414 million acres), 25 percent was forest land (376 million acres), and 10 percent was urban and built-up areas, roads and highways, areas of open water less than 40 acres, streams less …