POSTATTACK FARM PROBLEMS. PART 2. ATTACK EFFECTS ON INPUTS AND FARM OUTPUT
Abstract
Farm food production in the first year after a nuclear attack might be less than demands of the surviving population unless several major adaptations are made. With mobilization measures such as conversion of croplands from non-food and livestock feed production to human food production and use of surplus commodity stocks for livestock feed, adequate production could probably be maintained. Food production would increase in subsequent years unless national recovery were prevented by continued unsettled conditions. Contamination of cropland and losses of livestock would probably be the most serious constraints to agricultural production for the first postattack year. However, if fallout effects on cropland and livestock were less serious than currently estimated, casualties among farmers could be the chief constraint. In any event, production would probably be limited primarily by one of these constraints, rather than by the cumulative effects of less critical inputs. Estimates of production for a range of assumptions about human, animal, and crop vulnerabilities to attack are given.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0629139
Entities
People
- Kendall D. Moll
- Oliver E. Williamson
Organizations
- SRI International