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Show ment of Agriculture through the Agricultural Con- servation Program paid $3,925,000 to some 95,300 payees for carrying out similar conservation work in 1948 on nearly 12 million acres of land in Ten- nessee, about three-fourths of which is in the valley. Nearly 6 million acres of cropland and over 1,200,- 000 acres of pasture land are included. This repre- sents 46 percent of the farmers, 61 percent of the cropland, and 51 percent of the pasture land in the State. Although both the TVA and the Department of Agriculture through the Agricultural Conservation Program have made and are annually making a ma- terial contribution to conservation of the land re- sources, effort has been primarily on a farm basis rather than a watershed basis. This type of ap- proach results in heavier emphasis on some phases of land treatment than on others. Thus 90 percent of the ACP program in the valley has gone for liming and fertilizing. The TVA-Extension Serv- ice work has been conducted both on single farms and throughout numerous communities, where de- velopment of all the resources of the farm or com- munity is emphasized along with adequate liming and fertilizing to provide an improved land resource base. Liming and fertilizing are good production prac- tices and, when applied to grass or hay crops, assist in providing both better soil cover and more pro- ductive crops, thus contributing to watershed pro- tection and to good farm economy. When used on cultivated crops, the maximum effectiveness of fertilizer is not attained unless associated with a farming system which includes proper crop rotation and other soil conserving practices. Waters which are allowed to run from row croplands will carry large amounts of the plant food elements as well as the soil body itself. The Tennessee Valley Authority believes that emphasis on the achievement of sustained high farm production and physical treatment of the land are inseparable. However, its program has em- phasized until recently the phases of farm manage- ment designed primarily to increase farm produc- tion, while allowing physical treatment of the land to be a secondary part of the program. TVA has supported its policy as the only practical conserva- tion for the valley, and because it believes that there is ample opportunity to make administrative arrangements for coordination of its activities with those of all Federal agricultural agencies. It has held that the economic level of many farmers starts so low that land treatment would be nullified if their income is not raised. Further- more, there are definite conservation practices pro- vided for in the farm plans developed under the TVA-extension program. Although TVA and the land-grant colleges, pre- ferring their own cooperative approach to the eco- nomic and social improvement in farm family life as well as rehabilitation of the soil, have not pro- moted soil conservation districts, such districts have been established in all the valley counties of Ala- bama and in some counties in North Carolina and Tennessee.9 The Soil Conservation Service maintains that in the Tennessee Basin, as elsewhere, test demon- strations must be supplemented with those conser- vation practices which, in proper combination, will protect the entire farm unit. It notes that experi- ence throughout the country has proved that in addition to test demonstrations or field trials, the majority of farmers will not and cannot use all the conservation methods needed to sustain the pro- ductive capacity of the land unless technical assist- ance in planning and applying the measures needed is made available to them. Nonreimbursable finan- cial assistance or credit is also frequently re- quired. The Service further says that such as- sistance or credit are effective only when land use practices promote the accomplishment of an ade- quate conservation program for the entire farm unit. The conservation program of farm units in each tributary watershed must be properly inter- related. The major river basin is simply the sum of the myriad of small tributary watersheds. Recently, however, TVA has organized a pro- gram of tributary watershed development, which in a sense aims at developmental and demonstration watersheds. Several small watersheds are now receiving attention on this basis.10 The objective of programs in these areas is achievement of com- plete watershed treatment which emphasizes local initiative and local participation. As in many other TVA activities, the long-term educational approach' directed toward thorough local understanding of problems and solutions, is stressed along with physi- cal development in the area. However, it is likely that these programs could progress more rapidly if the facilities and experience of the Soil Conservation Service could be brought in as an integrated part of the small watershed 8 Several new districts were in process of organization in 1950. 10Chestuee Greek watershed in east Tennessee is an example. 911610-51------50 755 |
