WORLD'S MEAT SUPPLY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 97, 30 May 1914, Page 2

WORLD'S MEAT SUPPLY.

THE POSITION IN AMERICA. The meat-supply is a problem that is of supreme iriipdrtanee to the" world. Especially does this- apply"to the ''■ older' and ,mpre..(jieyeloped'countries of Europe. It is- also- of firsts importance to newer lauds,;, tnieh as, the United Spates of America?!- -■•'■'.<■-■ -■■■'■■ \ •.

It is but a few years ago that the '■volume of the increase of the meats for exportation was the theme of the great American packing companies; the number of live-stock exported and-the voyages of the cattle-ships to Great Britain were chronicled with regularity. To-day it is, no longer the, exportation of, livestock, or the millions «f pounds of .canned meats that provides quotations for the commercial'' world, or creates rivalry for the privilege of the cheap 4 est transportation among the magnates Of the .railways; * ft is accepted, that: 'America, as with other countries, seeks' new, fields from, whence, to 'import, the! animal r£ood to; supplement the propor^. ition tliat is raised by her farmers. ■■■■■■ It is possn>ly : ,ndt'recognised how'iirt•meiiHe is'the grazing' industry of America! 'I niiay'be permitted to quote some figures. The number of animals slaughtered annually is Of this number, hogs represent more than 50 per cent. The proportion set out,is: Hogs, 60.2; sheep and laiiibs 16.7; grown cattle, 15.4; calves, : ' 7.4; other' stock, as goats 1 , less than' 1 per cent.; It is also accepted ia.ti.6 of cpii- ' suroei\s to producers is also increasihg—that is, the population tof the town is becoming proportion;: -.t0,., the.-. .cowamittißity • on r: thes iandj.-'There: is again ;t!he? factitliat lindir dually.... there*, is <® -. greater; minimal foods. content tfith? meat .to ; 5 < their general id ietarw; now consider~. 'animal .f pods f as the. *ehie& .-..< These laetorsi: ifprm a !serio,us; .eonsi%raiioit in Modern life,.; .: - It iflust, not be, -supposed that, in„-thisiiimeajt problem:.America ; i»differently ■situated epun; tries; it is probably .more in evidence

there, and greater popular attention ' is directed, to this food-supply, because America has so rapidly changed from being an exporting country to an importing country of animal foods. This is shown in the fact that the exportation of meat from America to GreatBritain fell from 162,000,000 lb. in 190* to 680,000 lb. in 1918,' a perfectly insignificant quantity, so* much-so that itj ;is probably ii»t a true-export, ,but' re-;; presents nteW shipping Requirements. .; .It woixld appear that.? the imnijediat'e result : of this shortages *»f meat < will, cr,eate a competition betweenvnthose. countries, such as Great Britain, that av.e, accustomed to look for their meat supply from "outside'':' countries;- andthose, such as America, that are only now requiring supplementation by importation. The established sources have been Australia and New Zealand; Canada and Argentina. The nations now addto these exporting countries other lands —as, for instance, ' the comparatively undeveloped parts' of South America-, including the : central region's of that Continent, Already'; cattle-raising' iS being exploited in Brazil. The other sources. that may are -South and Central Africa. r

It cannot be/'excluded from calculation that' there', is ah power of meat-production Ik aHF eo'un- ! tries, and particularly in ; America. The ijfiijmer' can' astonish "the'world i|f he but devotes himself to stock-raising'this is well within Ins 'The;prije of fattened animals 'offers every Inducement to the farmer to enter into this line of business. There-is ho Undertaking on the land' thaE "has a greater seleurity of profit than gracing and fattening; further, _thereares no means i more. sure for, ImprdA T ing 'the f arki than this. The' fattening 1 Gf animals assures i.'the conservation, of the fertility of the ■soil'. This is' mentioned,"as. it. applies to the farmer' _o jji one it. may •be'tHei..st.ait',that 't|ie animal is fattened ;in, in, ; the"b.fher3.is 'the, carefully .man-.' ' aged pastures ,the ; sedulously cultivated ;fi#jds. ( .0^ the fattening as 'eftefitedi. <; lt., i§ neither the 'wide pas-; iure t nor .s)ie' >: prAauciion of/crops, but the co-qrd;mation t qk sj,e. farm of plant,. and animal productipn.jthat will provide the most useful occupation of the land. ~.; There will b'e'h&r<rthel fieldof action for thevmodern'farmer. He will apply .the 1 effective 'cultivation of: the.soil,-:.se--leetiok• «£■ the.<m osfc.productive seeds, the.; ■acceptance of defikite rotations of crops

,and the careful skilful breedings pfliyeH • stock. It is under these conditions tiiak science, with practice, * will lead the most intelligent of our people back to the land-It may be that from this very problem of the supply of meat for food that the return to"-- the'landTi'a' t'Q'' > b*e»t' realised;—E. Cliftpn in "Journal of Agriculture."