Recent Changes in Agrarian Land Use in Georgia

RECENT CHANGES IN AGRARIAN LAND USE IN GEORGIA Sanford H. Bederman* During the last decade or so the State o f Geo rgia has exp erienced a marked change in its agricultural econom y. N ot only has there been a striking change in local land use, but there also have been substantial regional shifts in production w ithin the state. (1) N either the m ajor farming regions nor the fanning activities that characterized the area earlier w ere the most important in the decad e o f the 1960’s despite their perpetuation on maps o f land use and farming types. So m e o f the most drastic and farreaching changes in agrarian land use have taken p lace since the 1959 U. S. Census o f A griculture w as published. This study describes and ex­ plains the reasons for some o f these changes. STATEWIDE LAND USE CHANGES. The use o f Georgia’s farm land in recent years is becom ing more like that in the other agricultural regions o f the United States. N ow here in the state today does crop monoculture exist, a situation not true in the years prior to the Great Depression in the 1930’s. (2) Before the First W orld W ar cotton dom inated the state’s agricultural economy, w ith tw o-thirds o f all farm incom e being derived from its sale. By 1930 it comprised less than 50 p ercent, and the 1954 Census o f A griculture reported that cotto n sales m ade up only 21.9 p ercent o f the total farm incom e, but it was still the leading cash crop in the state. How ever, in 1968 cotto n cash receipts accounted for less than four percent o f total farm incom e and it fell to fourth place among cash crops. Georgia farmers began to diversify their activities in the late 1920’s w ith livestock (including p o ultry ), peanuts and to bacco rep lacing cotto n in many areas as the m ajor source o f cash incom e. A t the same tim e farmers changed their previously negative attitude tow ard grass and its use. M oreover, farmers recently have realized that trees, if properly m anaged, can be raised lucratively as a cash crop. Before 1900 Geo rgia’s forests w ere dep leted so far that the lum ber and naval stores industries w ere in serious trouble due to a lack o f trees. In fact the U. S. Fo rest Serv ice grimly announced in 1920 that Georgia no longer possessed any virgin tim ber. H ow ever, since that date Georgia’s forestry has made a rem arkable recovery. Industries in the state began “forest-product” farms w hich produce both naval stores and pulpw ood. Since 1960 Georgia has produced annually about 80 p ercent o f the nation’s *Mr . Be d e r m a n i s a sso c i a t e p r o f e sso r of g e o gr a p h y a t Ge o r gi a St a t e U n i v e r si t y , At l ant a. T h e p a p e r w a s ac ce p t e d f o r p u b l i c a t i o n in M a y 1970. Vo l . X , N o . 2 73 naval stores, and tim ber has becom e the state’s most valuable natural re­ source. In discussing the development o f the pine plyw ood industry in the So uth, O jala and Prunty have stated, “Q uite possibly the expansion into the South o f the softw ood plyw ood industry w ill be recognized as the out­ standing developm ent in the nation’s w hole forest-based m anufacturing complex during the 1960’s,” (3) and a significant portion o f this industry is based in Georgia. There are now 26 million acres o f com mercial forest land in...