MANY OBSTACLES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26543, 19 August 1947, Page 5

MANY OBSTACLES

BRITAIN’S FOOD PLAN RE-EQUIPMENT OF INDUSTRY NEW OBJECTIVE FOR FARMERS From E. A. Webber, Special Correspondent Rec. 10 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 18. The first details of the five-year crisis plan for British agriculture, by which means the Government hopes to raise the value of British food production by £100,000,000 in five years, has already been hammered out between the leaders of industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, and will be presented in detail by the Minister, Mr Tom Williams, at a conference on Thursday. It is recognised that the Government's first step must be not only to provide British farming with a much larger target, but also with fresh incentives. These will be included in a new scale of prices for agricultural products, which Mr Williams will announce on Thursday. It is intended that the new scale should be adequate, not only to meet higher costs, including a new wage scale for farm workers, but also to provide for the large measure of extra capitalisation involved in the campaign. Basis for Increases The blue print for the five-year plan is based upon five main points. First, the production of meat, milk, bacon and eggs must be stepped up as rapidly as the feeding-stuff position permits; secondly, the decline in the tillage area, which decreased from 14,500,000 acres in 1944 to 13,000.000 acres last year, must be checked; thirdly, maximum supplies of feeding stuffs must be sought, even if this means an increased dollar outlay; fourthly, priority must be given to the manufacture of all farm requisites. (The Farmers’ Union estimates that the full agricultural machinery reequipment programme would cost £20,000,000), and fifthly, rural housing must take first place with miners’ housing in the national programme. This programme entails the transfer of the bias in British farming from production of direct consumption crops to livestock and livestock products, but before British agriculture can make progress in this direction it must recover the leeway lost by its flocks and herds since the end of the war. Decline in Livestock The number of sheep on Britisli farms has fallen from 27.000.000 in 1939 to under 12,000,000 at the e.nd of the recent severe winter, while the number of pigs decreased from 4,400,000 in 1939 to 1,600.000 last year. The number of cattle has been better maintained, but even so it is reported to have decreased from a peak total of 9,600.000 recorded in 1946. The round figure of JOO.OOO quoted as the labour deficiency in British agriculture is generally accepted as correct. Last year the number of agricultural workers in Britain was given as nearly 900,000 but this included nearly 180,000 German prisoners who are due for repatriation. Since then the number of Germans has been geduced to 120,000 who are due to be repatriated at the rate of 15,000 each month. In view of the demands in other industries, it is obvious that they cannot be replaced inside Britain and there must be large-scale immigration to fill the gap. Problem of Housing This in its turn raises the problem of housing. At present, rural housing is proceeding at a rate of not more than 2000 a month, of which only a proportion are allocated to farm workers. Details of the Government’s plans to meet this situation will be anxiously awaited. .So too will be the priorities it proposes to allot to farm machinery. In 1945 the National Farmers’ Union estimated that 600 four-wheeled tractors, 14,500 two-wheel tractors, 20.000 tractor ploughs, 10,000 binders, 15,000 mowing machines and large quantities of other machinery would be required as a minimum basis for re-equipment. Even if the present export quota was thrown into a pool it will take a long time for British industry to overtake this programme. „ Confident of Success In spite of these difficulties, however, leaders of industry are confident that if they are given the necessary assistance by the Government, they can reach the objective set them and even exceed it. The Farmers’ Weekly, the official journal of the National Farmers’ Union, in an editorial headed “Raise Your Sights,” says: “We are by no means overwhelmed by the task we have been set. It does little more than stop the rot. „ We could go further and say to the country that we are willing and able to raise our sights far beyond the targets at present set for us. But we need the requisite ammunition.”