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Abstract
Excerpts: The land area of the United States must fulfill increasing demands from a growing population and a continuously developing economy. As they have in the past, demands for land and its products and services will change in form and intensity. The supply of agricultural land is likely to be subject to increasing pressure from urbanization and greatly expanded public installations and facilities. Such uses are creating demands for land which to a large extent were nonexistent or insignificant throughout much of our history. This paper focuses on the past, present, and future use of land for agriculture in the United States. Historical trends in use and the expansion of agriculture through new land settlement are briefly reviewed. The changing structure of modern agriculture is examined in some detail. Factors determining future demands for the products of land are appraised. Based upon a set of assumptions about these factors and about resource productivity, estimates of land requirements for agriculture in 1980 are presented. The potential for meeting demands for agricultural products further in the future is briefly discussed.