THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Wednesday, February 12, 1941. FIGHTING WITH THE PLOUGH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24530, 12 February 1941, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Wednesday, February 12, 1941. FIGHTING WITH THE PLOUGH

A significant feature of the war effort in Great Britain has been the attention that has been devoted to the production of food for man and beast that was previously imported. It was stated by the Minister of Agriculture in a speech last week that between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 acres of land had been ploughed and that a programme of drainage of large areas was being undertaken. Visitors from the dominions to England in past years cannot have failed to be impressed with the belief that there were large areas of land that could advantageously be brought into cultivation. As long, however, as the freedom of the seas was assured to the mercantile marine the country was in a position to import the major amount of its food requirements and was content to allow the beautiful fields that formed part of the glory of rural England to remain untilled. The attempt on the part of Germany to starve the British people into submission to her by means of the counterblockade to which she has had recourse required that the farmers in the United Kingdom should vigorously apply their exertions to the production of increased supplies of foodstuffs. It seems apparent that they have responded with admirable energy to the drive which the Department of Agriculture instituted. In 1918 there were 12,400,000 acres of ploughed land in England and Wales, 3,450,000 acres in Scotland, and about 1,500,000 acres in Northern Ireland. These figures had been reduced, before the first ploughing-up campaign in 1939, to 8,936,000 acres in England and Wales, 2,940,000 acres in Scotland, and 1,030,000 acres in Northern Ireland. The plough has been described by the agricultural correspondent of the Daily Telegraph as “ the key that must unlock our potential food resources to meet the needs of the nation.” The proof that the farmer has risen to the height of the occasion seems to be furnished in the statement by the Minister of Agriculture that the country “will have ploughed by this spring at least as much additional land as at the agricultural peak of the last war.” With millions of acres of grassland going under the plough, it became a matter of vital importance to set about the improvement of the rest of the land. The Minister of Agriculture has admitted that there are literally millions of acres that are in need of drainage. From this circumstance the importance of the Government’s drive, which aims at cleaning out most of the farm ditches by the use of mobile gangs before spring has been reached, is evident. As a result of the programme that has been adopted by the Government, under which the farmer is guaranteed a remunerative price for his produce, a new confidence is said to have been created in the countryside, for the producer can now participate in the scheme “ with the certainty,” it has been said, “ that henceforward a cardinal point of policy will be to maintain a healthy and well-balanced agriculture in Great Britain.”