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A Thin Slice of Soil
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The Earth As An Apple

Today, the world's population is 6.25 billion and increasing, but the amount of land we have for growing our food supply is not! This means that it will become harder to grow food for everyone on Earth.

Imagine this apple represents the Earth.

 

Step 1

If you cut the apple into four equal pieces, three of those pieces are covered by water. Only one of the pieces is land, or 1/4 of the Earth!

Step 2

If you slice this piece in half, you get two pieces that are each 1/8 of the whole apple. One of these pieces represents the land that people can live on. The other piece represents deserts, mountains and forests where people do not live.

 

Step 3

Take the 1/8 piece that represents the land where we can live and cut this piece into 4 equal parts. Three of those 1/32 pieces are for cities and towns, home, schools and shopping malls and suburban developments–places where we can live, but can't grow food.

Step 4

All that is left is this tiny piece–this 1/32 of the whole earth.

Take this last piece of apple and carefully peel off the skin. This tiny piece of skin represents the farmable land or topsoil layer where we grow our food.

 

Our land is a precious resource. Scientists and farmers, by using technology, are producing more food. But, with a fixed amount of food-producing land and an ever-increasing number of people, we need to continue looking at different methods to grow food. It is also necessary to protect the environmental quality of our air, water and land.

 

For additional information contact Tad Duncan at (254) 751-2608
or E-mail: Tad Duncan

 

 

Please send your comments and suggestions for the
Texas Farm Bureau website to:
Vernie Glasson, Executive Director
Gene Hall, Publisher
Linda Andrews, Webmaster
Texas Farm Bureau | P.O. Box 2689
Waco, Texas 76702-2689 | 254-772-3030
Cindy Wennin, Sr. Graphic Designer