Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 6 · column 5 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
nually. Two billion tons of topsoil are being lost each year to wind and water erosion.
In announcing the Campaign, AFT President Ralph E. Grossi said the nation msut take steps to recognize and protect its strategic farmland before it is too late.
“Recent reports reflect the food production challenges we will face as our population doubles by the year 2050,” said Grossi, a third-generation farmer from northern California. “One such report indicates that the world’s farmers will be asked to produce as much food in the next 40 years as they have in the entire 14,000-year history of agricultural production, and that the acreage of productive farmland simply cannot keep pace with the expanding population.
“Since 1980, we have shown there are realistic, workable ways to conserve our best farmland and all that it represents to our way of life. To ensure that new farmer-friendly conservation programs are developed and supported, we must increase public awareness of this particularly important issue and expand our policy research efforts. And to ensure AFT’s continued ability to provide strong leadership, we must strengthen our resources through The Campaign-for America Farmland.’”
AFT announced a Campaign fund-raising target of $38 million. Of that, $21 million would got to ensuring AFT has the necessary capital to intervene and protect threatened farmland; $15 million would be directed to policy-making, communications, membership and technical education initiatives; and $2 million would endow a fund to conduct policy-related studies and expand AFT’s computer-based information systems at its Center for Agriculture in the Environment in DeKalb, IU.
The dinner kicking off the Campaign highlighted the regional vari
92.8%