Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1949. WORLD'S SUPPLY OF FOOD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 75, 8 January 1949, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1949. WORLD'S SUPPLY OF FOOD

An arresting survey of the problem of the world’s supply of food was given recently by

the British Minister of Agriculture (Mr Tom Williams) who <as' a practical farmer is to be acknowledged as speaking with authority on the production and supply of food generally. Mr WiU -Hams, advancing the point that the world to-day is greatly de-

pendent on North America as the principal source of its staple cereal foods, that the failure of a single harvest could bring disaster. Certainly there was a temporary improvement last year but underlying is a fundamental

/long-term insecurity. No country, fhe Minister said, could continue production on such a basis as to .'provide against failure of harvests such as must be expected over a long period. The expansion of settlement and improvement

in farming methods on the virgin soils of, the vast prairies during th,e later half of the last century brought about a balance between supply and the demand of the crowded populations of the Old World for cheap food. But to-day

the New World is filling up, with the inevitable result that any increase in productionjs largely absorbed in meeting domestic needs. Mr Williams, while urging improvement in the free flow of international trade, realises that

even though America may have wheat to spare she may not want /to buy what seekers of food have to sell in exchange. Thus he is forced to the conclusion that “the solution can be, ultimately, only in large increase in the production of all countries.” The task thus imposed upon the people of this

generation and posterity is an enormous one, accomplishment of which requires not only skilful planning and practical operation but also international tolerance and co-operation.