U. S. Economic Research Service
Published: 2018-03-17
Total Pages: 70
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Excerpt from Our Land and Water Resources: Current and Prospective Supplies and Uses Although thousands of acres of farmland are con verted annually to other uses - urbanization, roads, wildlife, and recreation - and population has risen a third in 20 years, we are in no danger of running out of farmland. Increasingly efficient production methods, a declining rate of population growth, and an abun dance of water resources and land with agricultural potential should ensure our domestic food and fiber needs to the year 2000 and leave enough land left over for other purposes. Distribution of the Nation's land among major uses has not changed markedly in recent decades. Agri culture continues to use more of our land than any other segment of the economy. In the 50 States, about a fifth of all land is used for growing crops and well over a third, including both grassland and woodland grazed, is used for livestock grazing. Forest land occupies a third of the total land area. About one-eighth of the land consists of marshes and swamp, desert, tundra, and barren land. Land in urban uses has about doubled since 1950 and now makes up almost 2 percent of the total land area. One percent of the land area is used for roads, airports, and other rural transportation facilities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.