Back to Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 Transactions

Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 012

Image details

Year 1940
Transcription
OCR Text 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