|
SW “Ohia” | OldFarmboy74,
The fellow who wrote that, Dr. W. C. Lowdermilk, is very interesting to read about. He initially studied forestry and worked for the Forest Service before taking a job in China in the 1920s. His task was to figure out why the Yellow River was silting up and causing massive floods. He found extensive erosion from poor soil conservation in essentially all the river headwaters.
This shaped his views and got him involved in erosion control when he came back to the US. When FDR formed the Soil Erosion Service as part of the Public Works Administration in 1933, Lowdermilk was asked to join and became one of the US Government’s first soil conservation scientists. The SES then became the Soil Conservation Service when it was transferred to the USDA in 1935.
In 1938 several US Congressional members suggested that somebody within the USDA tour “Old World” areas to understand how centuries of agriculture have affected their land. This year-long tour took Lowdermilk to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His findings are what became that “Conquest” report.
The observations of agriculture he made in Israel during that trip brought him to his next interest, and he spent a lot of time there in his later career. Much of the water infrastructure in the country can be traced to his early planning.
This was an era when soil conservation was just beginning to be recognized. Amazing to see how far we have come in less than a century.
Edited by Red Paint 3/7/2019 20:27
| |
|
History of Agriculture
