Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 012
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| Year | 1940 |
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12 THE EFFECTS on THE WAR ON AGRICULTURE. Navy, there has been no shortage of food. If, however, the war should be prolonged and the food position became serious, it is almost certain that the Government would be forced to take the line adopted by Mr Lloyd George in 1917 and offer definite guaranteed prices, big enough to call forth the addi- tional foods needed. CHANGES IN FARM PRACTICE. Whatever course the Government adopts towards agri- culture during the war, there will be certain changes in farm practice. Owing to the shortage of imported concentrates, methods of feeding are being devised to replace these by home—grown fodders. Good results have been reported in feeding pigs with the minimum of concentrates, the rest of the ration consisting of roots, silage, cabbage, kale and other roughage, and feeding experiments are at present being done to ascertain the extent to which grain can be reduced in the poultry ration. Other experiments are being done to ascertain the extent to which the digestibility and utilisation of straw can be increased by treatment with acids or alkalis. These expedients for economising on concentrates were all . known before. They were not used because they involved more labour, and, with an abundant supply of cheap con- centrates, they were not economical. They can only be used to advantage when the price of concentrates is very high in proportion to labour costs and the value of the product. So soon as the acute shortage of feeding-stuffs disappears after the war, these emergency methods of feeding will give place to the established pre-war methods. The only changes in practice which are likely to be per- manent after the war are those which would have taken place in any case. All the war will do will be to accelerate the change. One of these changes is the better utilisation of pastures. Shortage of feeding—stuffs will stimulate improve- ments in the management of pastures. By proper use of fertilisers and management of grazing, the yield of much of our pastures could be increased probably by as much as 50 per cent. Surplus grass at the flush of growth, which is often largely wasted, can now be conserved for winter feeding as dried grass or as grass silage. Opinion is still divided as to the relative values of these. The general results of a number of years’ study at this Institute has led us to the conclusion that grass drying is unlikely to be an economical process except under specially favourable conditions, whereas grass silage, which can be made on almost any farm with little or no additional equipment, is an economical process even with an abundant supply of concentrates at pre-war prices. The value of the silage depends upon the stage of the cutting THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON AGRICULTURE. 13 of the grass and the method of making. With high-grade grass silage, made without molasses or any other ingredient, it has been found possible on the Duthie Farm to feed cows, with a yield of five gallons a day, on nothing but grass silage. This method of using surplus grass is likely to extend and to mark a permanent change in agricultural practice. In the attempt to get two million more acres pasture land ploughed up, there may be a danger of ploughing up the wrong kind. of pastures. Old, deteriorated pastures will pay for ploughing up; but, with a shortage of concentrates, the ploughing up of good pasture land is of doubtful value. Much of it will be laid down in oats and give a yield of about one ton per acre, which will be used for winter feeding. About five tons of grass silage is equal in value to one ton of oats, and on good pastures as much as ten tons of silage may be made per acre. Good pasture land may, therefore, be ploughed up and actually yield less food than if it had been left in grass. Another change which will tend to be permanent is increased mechanisation. That has been going on rapidly in recent years. The war will cause a shortage of labour. Even if agricultural workers be exempted, the high wages being paid in munition works and other industries will tend to draw off some of the older men who are over the age for service. Every device, therefore, which will reduce manual labour is likely to be employed and to be permanent. It is premature to discuss possible changes in agricultural organisation. During the war, industry will pass more and more under the control of ofiicials and of the large firms supplying feeding—stuffs, seeds and manures, and buying the output from the farm. This is all to the advantage of the firms concerned, because their profits are assured, and, to a very large extent, are determined on figures supplied by themselves. They will be in favour of continuing the system, and, if guaranteed prices were given which involve subsidy from the Treasury, the Government will naturally insist on exercising some form of control through its officials. The war, therefore, will likely leave behind it permanent organisa- tions which will impose further limits on the farmer’s choice of merchants and markets. The extent to which the new organisation will benefit the farmer will depend very largely upon the influence which farmers themselves bring to bear upon the post-war adjustments of war-time organisations. Posr-WAR CHANGES. The slump in prices after the last war is still fresh in the minds of farmers. The Government has promised that farmers will be given a fair deal and will not be ‘let down ’ |
| Title | Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 012 |
