RECENT BOOKS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 60, 8 September 1945, Page 9

RECENT BOOKS

BRITISH FARMING

TARGET FOR TOMORROW

(By Q.)

Matter, far more than manner, is the essence of some books, those particularly which are out to inform rather than entertain. What the reader will want in such a case is the gist of the information rather than a comment on the method whereby it is imparted. Many books published in the last few years of war, especially after victory for the Allies began to loom as a certainty on the horizon, are of this character. They are virtually studies of some of the problems the United Nations have to face, if they are to weather the post-war period of storm or doldrums, or both, successfully. Such is the book under review. THE FUTURE OF BRITISH FARMING, by Dr. A. W. Menzies-Kitchin, with a foreword by Sir John Boyd Orr. (London: Pilot Press. Ltd.)

This important work is one of a series of books of post-war planning, entitled "Target for Tomorrow/ published by the Pilot Press, Ltd. Other titles are: "Children for Britain," by Grace Leybourne and Kenneth White, and "Britain's Way to Social Security," by Francois Laiitte. If these are as good as "The Future of British Farming," they will be well worth the attention of a serious student of world problems, on whose efforts so much of success, or failure, will depend in .navigating the difficult waters of the next few years. The writer of the foreword, Sir John Orr, needs no introduction. He is well known to those who take an intelligent interest in contemporary life as perhaps the greatest authority of national nutrition. Dr. Menzies-Kitchin. whose book this is, should be well equipped to deal with the subject, as he is the man in charge of the Economic Department of the School of Agriculture at the University of Cambridge. The subject is important not only to Britain but to New Zealand also. It will make a good deal of difference to 90 per cent, of our exports, products of our farming, all going to Britain, what style of farming Britain adopts in the future. For instance, if the British farmer took to specialising m butter and cheese, which a large part of Britain by soil and climate is well fitted to produce, New Zealand's dairy industry must suffer. Alternatively, if Britain turned to wool and mutton —and in the Middle Ages England was the sheep run for the Flanders woollen textile industry—it might go hard with our sheep farmers. We can leave Canada and Australia to worry about wheat, if Britain ploughs up her pastures for cereal crops. A LONG-TERM POLICY.

First of all, fanning anywhere is a long-term business and so must farming policy be. As Sir Jolyi Orr, points out, "the initial cost of production is incurred, in most cases, a year and, in. some cases, two or three years before the product is ready for the market. Efficient farming is impossible so long as there is uncertainty as to future policy and prices." New Zealand farmers well know that. "Agriculture in Britain," continues Sir John, "is es- r sentially food production, and production must be planned in the light of consumption. The State cannot give a guaranteed market for food which cannot be sold and consumed, and the guaranteed price must be within the means of the poorest consumer. In Britain the agricultural population is oniy about 7 per cent, of the total population; farmers cannot expect an agricultural policy which does hot take account of the other 93 per cent, of the population." Thus the consumer must be studied in regard to the nature of his nutrition and the price of the food that constitutes it. "Hence," declares Sir John, "those planning for the 'New and Better Post-war World' demand a great, increase in the production of foods of special value for health, such as milk, dairy products, eggs, fruit, vegetables, and meat—the most expensive foods— and a retail price within the purchasing power of every citizen. . . . But. unless there is a reasonable assurance of a market at the remunerative price, the food needed by the people will not J be produced." Then "no decision onj a long-term agricultural policy can be reached until the pre-war conflict between an expanding and prosperous! British agriculture and cheap imported: food is resolved. . . . The problem is more difficult for the United Kingdom j than for any other country because | Britain was the greatest .food market; in the world and decisions on British; agriculture affect our relationships! with the food-exportingcountries. . .." Dr. Menzies-Kitchin then surveys the problem from all sides in most illuminating detail, with a fascinating picture of British farming as it is in peace and in war, impossible to reproduce here, except in high spots and conclusions. Thus, to those who want more and more people on the land, he says: "The greatest poverty generally occurs in those countries which maintain the highest population on the land, for standards of living rise as mankind learns to produce food and primary products with ever lessening effort, thereby releasing labour to increase the output of manufactured goods and services. Great Britain and the United States have a higher standard of living than Poland and China mainly because they have learned to satisfy their most urgent needs with a minimum of time and effort." WORD FOR NEW ZEALAND. But what about New Zealand? Does ■the Dominion disprove the rule, or is it the exception that proves it? Here is what the author appends as a footnote: Denmark and New Zealand both combine a high agricultural population with a high standard of living. Both, however, are small countries and their prosperity is dependent on their ability to export to Great Britain. "The purpose of agriculture," declares the author, "is to feed the people with the kind of food they require and to feed them with the least possible effort. Theoretically therefore the fewer the men and the less the land required to produce the world's food the better. At the same time it is highly wasteful for men to be without work But the choice in a period of depression should not be between unemployment and agriculture, but between unemployment and new industry." A Britain impoverished by two world wars will "less than ever be able to afford the encouragement of forms of agricultural production which require high degrees of subsidy or to allocate subsidies to foster high-cost units of production." GENERAL FRAMEWORK. The purpose of his book Dr. Men-zies-Kitchin defines as "to examine how British agriculture can best fit into the general framework" of the conclusion of several international conferences that the problem before the modern world is to devise a pattern for democratic civilisation in which the resources of the different parts of the world are used for the benefit of the world and in which the individual shall enjoy the greatest amount of freedom compatible with the general welfare of society. I There are several possible aims for I agriculture, of which the Council of Agriculture for England distinguishes these. "Agricultural policy may be designed to secure self-sufficiency in foodstuffs; or the maximum employment of labour; or the greatest possible use of-land for food production, or such use of land as will in combination with industry and trade maximise the country's total production of wealth." These aims cannot be pursued in common, and the objective of agricultural policy should be: (i) The restoration and improvement of the productive capacity of farms and their equipment and the maintenance of soil fertility; (ii) the stimulation of the output of the products • which are especially necessary for the health of the nation and which are best fitted to produce; (iii) the raising of the standard of ■ life of the rural population and dv) ■ the attraction of an increase m that population by improving the amenities <of rural life. These and other views the author analyses in detail and comes to the ; conclusion that the "nutritional ap- : proach" offers the best prospects as a , policy for the future of British farm- . ing. "The logical sequence," he says, '■ "is to decide the commodities required s and then to evolve a system of agriculture which ensures the best use of

the land" If subsidies are required to ensure a product at the price the consumer can pay, then he considers a subsidy to the consumer, i.e., a low price for milk so that more can be drunk, infinitely more desirable than a subsidy on the production of wheat or sugar'beet; if these can be produced overseas at substantially less cost. "In this connection," he adds, "it has been calculated that if the additional food required for an adequate national diet in this country were to be produced in Britain, it would entail the following increases on 1939 production— Milk, 65 per cent.; eggs, 60 per cent.; fruit, 70 per cent.; vegetables, 60 per cent.; meat, 15 per cent.' ' A system of farming that will achieve such production of such commodities is what the author recommends, and it may be seen that such farming would not injure New Zealand's staple exports. The whole problem is studied and analysed with a wealth of figures and statistics and graphs dealing with different kinds of farming in Great Britain. The author specially recommends the investigation of the "comparative economics of ley farming in the Scottish sense, pasture resee'ding, and -arable farming with permanent grassland." A series of photographs of farms and farmers rounds oil a fine book.