Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 011
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| Year | 1940 |
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.HIEE 1.0 THE EFFECTS or THE WAR ON AGRICULTURE. THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON AGRICULTURE, 11 ‘lllij; which are likely to be chosen for the imported part of the ' W 1. fits exhortations or appeals to patriotlsm ‘: 3 iron ration' " If hfiogaggoggggcgeg to, make him increase production. In 1 ' . will With a planned food scheme home production would be , 2:: last Wm. in spite of exhortations by the (J‘rOVeI‘nment ‘ adjusted to fit in with imports. It is impossible, without d recomméndafions by Committees, there was no marked ‘ ‘ loss of output, to make any sudden change in agricultural Em Tease in production until 1917. On 23rd February of that practice. Practically all that was being produced in peace- mcr Mr Lloyd George, realising the, seriousness of the fOOd , time should continue to be produced. We have, however, yggition gave a guarantee of £6 a ton for potatoes and 608- .} a choice in deciding the nature of the additional production. 2 martial. for Wheat. The guarantee was given tOO late ’50 1W If priority in imports were given to wheat, sugar, and fats, hage its fun effect in 1917, The full efiect, however, Wits ‘ I iig‘i‘ then priority for additional home production should be given seen in 1918. The following tame shows the extent to whlch ' l to potatoes, vegetables, and milk, because these six foods, output was increased in 1917 and 1918 :— 1‘ together with oatmeal, of which there is already sufficient in: produced at home to meet human needs, supply all the 1951"”. nutrients the body needs to maintain it in perfect health. ' Wm Next in order of priority would probably come sugar-beet. INCREASE IN PRODUCTION or WHEAT AND POTATOES IN THE 1914-18 W'An. 1918 as '1 “,1 Like the potato it gives more than twice the yield of food ‘ percentage of ""1 per acre that grain does, and the beet pulp and tops are 1914‘ 1915' 1916' 1917' 1918' with: _ ‘11:." valuable feeding-stuffs. Next to sugar—beet would come 5:; fodder crops to help to make good the deficiency in imported h tit concentrates. In the allocation of concentrates, priority would W119??— , _ . . . 142 g - - 111mm rs. . 7 80 9 24 7 47 8 04 11 64 . ‘ t be given to the dairy cow. Next would probably come poultry. m q f Although the hen is a less efficient transformer than the pig, Pofigfiiijons _ 7.48 7.54 5.47 8.60 9.22 135 : eggs are of higher nutritive value than bacon, and they are I a, more difficult to import. Further, with the Lehmann system i . , j if, of feeding, pigs can be fed with small amounts of concentrates, The guarantee of prices was effective in producing 111 1918 s; Whereas it is difficult to replace cereals in the feeding of 41887000 quarters of Wheat and 2,608,000 tons of potatoes } 3'1 Poultry. ahove the average of the five pre-war years. ReViewing the J 'r' agricultural position during the war, Mr James Cruickshank ,1] it PRICE REGULATION OF PRODUCTION in 1919 shows that the increased production was get only H by the guaranteed prices which gave the farmer the induce- m; The only way to get the foodstuffs we need is to offer the ment Of a profit which warranted him taking the risks of ‘2‘ i farmer a guaranteed market and a guaranteed known price. increasing production, He says: “The amazing thing IS a w; Promises to pay prices which will cover the cost of production “ ’ are too vague, because the cost of production varies by as much as 100 per cent on different farms. The farmer knows he will get a price to cover the cost of production on good land. But if production is to be increased he must move on w to marginal land which went out of Cultivation because the that it took the Government, with all its expert advisers, nearly three years of war conditions to learn and understand that elementary fact.” _ _ It is difficult to set limits of the extent to which production l could be increased. The only practical limit .at the present y} time is the price offered. The nature of the morease is also f ; it} cost of production was too high. The price offered for the product will determine the extent to which the farmer is induced to bring the less profitable land into cultivation. Until he knows what the price will be he cannot decide the extent to which he should extend his operations. Further, once he breaks in new land or extends production in any other direction he must have a guarantee for several years ahead, to enable him to complete the rotation in cropping and warrant the increased expenditure involved in additional equipment and other outlays involved in changing over to a policy of increased output. The farmer produces for profit. determined by the price. The nation will get astmuch or .as little of any product as it wants by raising or lowering the price offered. Adjusting the prices offered for the different products in the proper proportion to each other will result in their being produced in the preportions we need. If there were a system of price regulations, designed to call forth the different foodstuffs we need in the right proportion, with a guarantee that they would be maintained for a series of years, each farmer would adjust his output to suit what his farm could best produce, and the total output of all farmers would be the foods which the nation requires. So far, thanks to the 1 "3 ‘ .9 .V; Al 3 is . l l l I 1. i. l. H ‘ , l |
| Title | Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 011 |
