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Show Much remains to be done before all the land resources are so used as to assure their conservation and optimum sustained productivity. For ex- ample, there are still more than one million acres of idle land on farms in the Tennessee Valley. In general, further desirable changes in land use call for an additional reduction in acreage of row crops, and increases in legumes, small grains, and pasture. Substantial acreages in the valley would still pro- duce larger economic returns from additional quantities of lime and fertilizers. Other problems include the small size of many farm units, inadequate capital resources, and in- adequate technical knowledge. Because the need for improved and increased use of fertilizers on farms is now generally accepted and because many problems now confronting farmers involve complex management aspects, TVA is turning from an extensive type of program to a more intensive effort. Research on farm pro- grams will emphasize the testing of TVA-developed fertilizers on a smaller number of test-demonstration farms, while at the same time the land-grant colleges are expected to continue their widespread pro- grams of demonstration and education. In order to make effective these several inter- related agricultural and soil programs TVA now proposes to engage in projects on a more limited scale than can be carried out in an entire great river basin. A new tributary watershed development program is being initiated. In the Chestuee watershed of the Hiwassee sub-basin where improvement of the fer- tility and productivity of the soil is a major prob- lem, farmers will collaborate with the technical staff of TVA and other Federal, State, and local agencies in an integrated resource development program. Local initiative, education, and techni- cal assistan.ee are the primary action devices. Simi- lar subwatershed land treatment programs will be instituted in many other areas. Formation of soil conservation districts also may be expected to influence the future course of land treatment £n the basin. There is a further important opportunity in or- ganization of the programs which are related di- rectly or indirectly to watershed management and land treatment in the basin. The task of bringing approaches to the land treatment problem from points of view as different as those of TVA itself, the Soil Conservation Service, the Agricultural Con- servation Program, the Farm Credit Administra- tion, the extension services of the land-grant col- leges, the Farmers Home Administration, the Forest Service, and still other agencies, including those of the States, into a single program on single farms and single watersheds, represents an important chal- lenge in the future of the basin. It is probably the largest single task which remains undone. In this opportunity the valley is no different from a large part of the remainder of the Nation, and any ex- periment toward the combination of these pro- grams into a successful whole can well have value for the country as a whole. The use of the valley area as a test region for such organization therefore warrants widespread interest in progress and results. Pollution Abatement Further improvement of water quality and elim- ination of remaining health hazards is another ma- jor challenge for the valley. It is above all a chal- lenge for State and local initiative. The treatment or elimination of wastes from industrial sources which prevent the most beneficial combination of water uses, the treatment of community sewage which handicaps or prevents other water use on some reaches of the basin streams, and improve- ment of rural sanitation should be considered es- sential goals. Needed legislative action, effort to overcome financial obstacles, and a program to inform the public fully and enlist the cooperation of all citizens in the valley in pollution abatement should be made effective at an early date. The Application of Resource Improve- ments to the General Economic and Social Problems of the Valley The pioneering approach of providing leader- ship by example which TVA has used for improve- ment of the economy of the area offers many further possibilities. Application of thought and effort to opportunities for further processing of farm and forest products, minerals, and other materials which can be produced in the region can have a further favorable effect on the standard of living in the region. The number of these opportunities is as large as the very wide field in which small business and farming enterprise engages in the Nation. Their selection for experiment is a matter of obser- vation and imagination in the region, and provision should be continued for such effort. 792 |
