Britain’s Food Import Burden

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31653, 13 April 1968, Page 13

Britain’s Food Import Burden

(Special Correspondent N Z P A.)

LONDON, April 12.

Britain’s importation of £looom worth of temperate foods a year was a burden no other country in the world accepted, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (Mr G. T. Williams), told a one-day conference of farmers in London yesterday.

“It makes no sense at al) for a country which is having to take such desperate measures to try to achieve a surplus of current account,” Mr Williams said. “As to possible future re quirements. the importance o( stepping up home food production still further is obvious ” Mr Williams said the United Kingdom’s population was expected to reach 61 million by 1980 and 75 million by the I year 2000, and sheer numbers

alone would cause a heavier demand for food. “We also have to take into account the fact that the country, as a whole, is better off than it was 30 years ago—a trend that is likely to continue. in spite of the fact that our economy is not improv ing at the desired pace,” Mr Williams said. “The nation will, therefore, be faced with a growing demand for food, combined with a need to save still further on imports.”