Full text of "Man In The Modern World"

MAN IN THE  MODERN WORLD
essential that the appalling soil erosion should be checked. For this
it was necessary to change the attitude and methods of the farmers.
Mineral fertilizers must be used; check-dams built; contour plough-
ing adopted to prevent run-off; new crops introduced; the erosion-
prone slopes put back to forest or laid down to grass.
The method adopted has been to persuade farmers to use their farms
as demonstrations of TV A fertilizers and TVA methods. The County
Agricultural Agent (who himself combines Federal, State, and County
functions, and whose assistant is paid by the TVA) calls together the
farmers of a community and explains the problem. The farmers
themselves then select the farm of one of their group to be used as a
demonstration unit. The work is done with the co-operation of the
local farmers' Committee and the County Agent or his assistant. In
return for this help and for the fertilizers provided by the TVA, the
farmer agrees to carry out the programme for a definite period, to
adjust his farming methods (for instance, by planting soil-protective
crops and using contour terracing where there is danger of erosion),
to keep records and report results, and to pay the freight costs of the
fertilizers provided.
In such cases the test-demonstration farm becomes a focal point of
community interest, a real community enterprise, carried on and to
a large extent planned by the farm