THE FOOD FRONT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 132, 7 June 1939, Page 13

THE FOOD FRONT

BRITISH WEAKNESS

HOW FARMERS CAN HELP

Hunger is the first danger in .war. It is the first stage in panic and defeat, writes P. W. Izzard in the "Daily Mail." Every schoolboy learns this inevitable sequence in his history class. The older ones among. us have seen it in movement. . ..: '.. . Because of this knowledge the nation is most deeply anxious that in a time of successive grave crises bringing it to the brink of war it still has no assurance of the safety of its food supplies. It has been told that the Government has bought and stored certain quantities of cereals, sugar, and whale oil. That was some months ago. What has been done since? We do not want to know how much has been stored. After the September crisis the German newspapers referred to food as on of the "gaps" revealed in our defence system. By all means let them think so. What we need on this matter is straightforward assurance by the Government, given with all the weight of the responsibility of this critical time. But on the general question of food the nation wants more than this, and should have been satisfied long ago. After the September crisis organised agriculture issued its policy for reforms that had been overdue for years, and declared that "not a single farmer throughout the length and breadth of England and Wales knows what would be expected of him if war broke out tomorrow." NO FURTHER ENLIGHTENED. The fanners are no further enlightened today. They marvel at the complacency of the Government. It is true that the question of emergency supplies is among the subjects of the policy talks yet to be discussed. It may be brought forward in the discussion with Sir Reginald DormanSmith to take place shortly, and I know it is hoped that the president of the National Farmer's' Union, Mr. T. Peacock, will be able to make an announcement at the meeting of his council. What a farce it is! At a recent council meeting Sir Henry French, who has charge of the Government's food plans, told the assembled farmers a great deal about how their products would be marketed and rationed. It was not his province to talk about production, but no-other responsible spokesman did so.

The nation is in the. same case. It has been told of the elaborate scheme for rationing, but nothing about the food.

I am told that the Food (Defence Plans) Department is to inform the nation soon what it is doing.. This is obviously in response to many urgent requests, the last from the Royal Agricultural Society itself. The time is long past when such taking of producers into its confidence could have been described as timely. COULD GROW PEAS AND ' BEANS. What could farmers do now to increase the supply of home-grown food? Little enough to make much difference in coming months. Here and there still a little spring wheat might be sown. They could grow large quantities ofthose most valuable war-time crops, peas and beans. They could produce greenstuff and might add something to our pig meat supplies.

In the last war the Government's Food Production Department obtained tractors galore, cultivated derelict farms, made it worth while to grow wheat on any odd bit of land that could be usefully sown, and generally brought farm production up to a commendably high point.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of acres of good land have again fallen back, and one of the first tasks at this late hour would be to recover it for useful cropping—an immense job in itself, which ought never to have been left for doing in a possible time of war.

How can the nation, other than professional producers, help? It. made a supreme effort in the last war. Scores of thousands of garden owners scrapped flowers for food. From the railway allotment holder who dug up a bit more of the bank to grow potatoes to the bishop in his palace who raised vegetables in his flower beds and had geese grazing his lawns, everybody was willing and eager to play his part. But all were told what to do.. Where today is the official prescience and advice that made us all gardeners in that grave time? In the food crisis of the last war the Royal Horticultural Society did fine work. Some of the simple cultural pamphlets it then issued on the growing of potatoes and other vegetables, in small gardens and allotments are.] still obtainable, some in a revised form, | for a few pence each. ! MORE POTATOES ALSO. Any gardener knows that he can. grow a great deal of food, including the invaluable potato, by sowing or planting now, and many people to my knowledge have not waited for advice from Government officials but have added to their vegetable ground, this spring. Very wisely, they have increased their potato area.

I hear of moves (a combined committee of the Royal Horticultural Society and the Ministry of Agriculture sat recently) to consider means of extending garden food production. Here, again, this should have been done three months ago.

Just a footnote in happier vein. There was opened recently in the Royal Horticultural Society's exhibition hall a remarkable display of early vegetables and salads representing a great industry that has grown up under the influence of the tariff placed. on imported similar produce a few years ago after long agitation. Before 1931 there was no such great supply of this food at the present time of year.

The lesson of it is plain. If, with Government encouragement, we can establish these new sources of home food supply in time of. peace, what could we not do in time of war, given a clear call and lead?