Many people reading this column have most likely taken advantage of the abundance of fruits and vegetables that are being produced in Robeson County. In addition to enjoying fresh corn, strawberries, peas, okra, watermelons, cantaloupes, and an assortment of other items, many of you have probably also canned and frozen a good supply to last through the winter.

In addition to the fruits and vegetables that are produced in the county, our local farmers also produce a large amount of other crops that indirectly provide foods or other products for us. Most of the corn produced in this area is used as animal feed, so we will have meats to eat. Our soybeans are processed for animal feed and, also, to provide vegetable oils and soybean meal for many of the prepared foods we purchase at the grocery store.

Most of the cotton grown in the county will be made into clothes which we will purchase in local department stores. Our trees are harvested, so we will have building materials and wooden products.

Have you ever paused to think just how small a portion of our earth is used to produce the foods and fibers we rely on daily? Let me share something for you to think about that was published in a recent edition of Carolina Farmer magazine.

Select the prettiest apple you can find at the grocery store. Take it home and carefully place it on the table in front of you. Now cut the apple into quarters--four pieces. Place three of these pieces at the far end of the table. These pieces represent the oceans of the world.

Cut the piece that is left in half. Place one of these halves at the far end of the table. This represents the portion of land that is unfit for people to live on--the North and South Poles, deserts, swamps, and high mountains. You now have 1/8 of your apple left. This is where the people of the world live but not necessarily where they grow their food.

Now carefully slice your 1/8 piece into four small pieces. Put three of them at the far end of the table. These represent the places where the soil is too poor to farm. These places are too rocky, too wet, too cold, or too steep to produce crops. These pieces also represent the land areas that are used for cities, houses, parking lots, highways, shopping malls, factories, and golf courses--where people live, work, and play but do not grow any food or fiber.

You now have only 1/32 of your apple left in front of you. This represents the area of the earth that is used to produce food and fiber. Wait, the roots of crops and trees grow only on the top few feet of the earth. They do not penetrate to the core of the earth.

Now, carefully remove the thin peel of the small piece of apple you have left. Place the peel gently in front of you and place the remainder at the far end of the table. This small piece of apple peel represents the portion of the earth's crust that provides all the food and fiber for all of mankind in the entire world. It represents a soil that is less than five feet thick and is a fixed amount, because no new soil can be created within a reasonable period of time.

You might want to save this small piece of apple peel. You might want to treat it as if your life depends upon it, because in the real world it does.

As you ponder this small piece of apple peel, you may now eat the rest of the apple that you placed at the far end of the table. You can enjoy it, because you can now better realize how fortunate we are. We have an earth that, with our assistance, has the capability of providing such an abundance of apples and other great things on such a small portion of its surface.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 09/12/01