A Land Policy as a Part of an Agricultural Program

Abstract

A land policy implies a conscious program of social control with respect to utilization, ownership, and acquisition of land and the human relations arising out of its use and ownership. Such a policy may be the result of direct public action by the federal, state, or local governments expressed in law, or it may take the form of indirect actions by state bodies, administrative units, or institutions. In many cases it takes the more subtle form of public approval or acquiescence in the work of semi-public or even private effort in regard to the utilization of land. The present paper deals only with such phases of a land policy as relate to the expansion of agricultural land. A proper policy with regard to the expansion of agricultural land can be stated in a few words. The ideal is balanced production. The time, rate, and method of expansion, as well as the selection of land to be brought under the plow should be controlled. The land resources of the nation ought to be classified and each class of land put into its proper use for the given time and place, making due allowance for future expansion, however. This is so simple and general that it will be accepted without serious objection as a part of an agricultural program. But to put such a policy into practice is not