TRIBUTE TO FARMERS’ RESPONSE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 January 1940, Page 2

TRIBUTE TO FARMERS’ RESPONSE

DEMANDS MADE ON AGRICULTURE CONTRIBUTION IN WARTIME [British Official Wireless] RUGBY, Bth January. A tribute to farmers’ response to demands made on agriculture was paid to-day by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Sir Reginald Dorman- « Smith, in a speech to the Farmers’ Club, i “The response has already been mag- ( nificent,” he said. “After less than 130 ; days of war, well over 1.000.000 acres i have been scheduled for ploughing, and 5 much has already been ploughed.” < Great as was the need for farming to J make contributions in wartime, the Agriculture Ministry’s policy was more than an emergency measure, and was an endeavour to make British farming a “credit-worthy industry,” in which the claims of labour were as fully re- f cognised as benefits to employers. After t dealing with policy details, Sir Reginald S Dorman-Smith declared: “The task of r rebuilding the British countryside has I already in part begun.”

The farmer’s job was equally as responsible as anyone’s, said Sir Reginald. There must be a sterner effort in 1940-41 if the war were to be continued. Prices constituted the main problem. The Government was seeking a fixed level. The immediate task was to produce the maximum amount in the shortest time. Agriculture would have to depend on women to an increasing extent as in the last war.— Press Association.