Farm and conservation policy decisions Reagan will face

Excerpt

THE hard facts of energy, food, and agriculture confronting the Reagan Administration signify a turning point in farm policy, perhaps not altogether in the directions the Republicans expect.

Take land use. The conversion of land from agricultural to nonagricultural use has not been a serious issue in the United States up to now. The chronic tendency to over production of farm products in the last half century led to the conclusion that we had too much land in crops. Land was held out of production through governmental rewards and, occasionally, penalties. The general opinion that too much land was being farmed diminished public anxiety about either soil erosion or diversion of land to nonfarm uses, although farsighted conservationists have been sounding warnings for decades.

Lately, the strain on land and water resources in agriculture has been coming to the fore of public attention. A conjectured shortage of farmland stirs emotion among farm and city people alike. Indeed, the one land use question sure to claim attention these days is the development of farmland for nonfarm purposes.

Loss of agricultural resources a national issue

Disorderly development in and surrounding urban areas is a local planning and zoning problem. Whether precious food …