British Agriculture's Only Hope
[During the past forty years no one in England has devoted more thought to the problem of restoring prosperity to British agriculture than Lord Bledisloe. In this article he points the way to better times.—ED. Spectator.] ATHOROUGHLY well informed and usefully suggestive article entitled " A Plea for British Agriculture," which recently appeared in the columns of the Spectator stimulates me to say a few words on the same subject, which, however, can but dot the " i "s and cross the "t "s of the wise and timely appeal which that article makes to the present Government on behalf of our oldest, greatly depressed; and most essential industry—more essential to-day than ever before with the depression of its urban rivals, and more depressed than it has been since the early 'nineties of the last century. and cross the "t "s of the wise and timely appeal which that article makes to the present Government on behalf of our oldest, greatly depressed; and most essential industry—more essential to-day than ever before with the depression of its urban rivals, and more depressed than it has been since the early 'nineties of the last century.
The heavy industries of our cities and our coalfields are flagging sadly for want of overseas trade; a trade, which in its former fullness is in many cases unlikely to return, because formerly importing countries are estab- lishing similar industries for themselves or, as in the case of coal, seeking successfully sources of mechanical energy in other directions. The World Economic Conference of 1927 proclaimed, as the one outstanding. issue of its deliberations, "the Essential Interdependence, of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce." This " inter- dependence " has been sadly wanting in Great Britain since the middle of the last century, • but its necessity must come to be increasingly recognized if the non- agricultural industries of the country are to regain some measure of their earning capacity. They must look for their custom more largely than in the past to the home agricultural population, and the latter on their part can only supply Such custom if their purchasing power is enhanced by the reasonable prosperity of their own industry.
The economic condition of our countryside and of every class • of its inhabitants has been the standing condemnation of successive British Governments of every political complexion for nearly half a century. If they would but grasp the nettle and seek the remedy in the right quarter (and the conditions for doing so are peculiarly favourable to-day with the present balance of political parties) they would impart a hope and a vigour to the task of food-production which are now sadly lacking, and which only a clear objective, a firm and undeviating Government policy, and an echoing confidence on the part of the whole rural community, can effectively revive.
It is said, and with truth, that " the farmers must help themselves," and that it is futile to look now to any Government to provide relief for agricultural ills by placing a tariff or other restriction on imported food. (There is possibly one qualification to this laissez-faire Government attitude, and that is when our agricultural markets are being flooded, as they are at present, by such important land products as wheat-and oats of -foreign origin fed with a foreign Government bounty, and sold in Britain at less than the cost of production. Not even a Cobden or a Bright, and still less a Palmerston, would fail to supply, at least temporarily, a drastic and effective remedy to meet such conditions.) It has to be.recognized that our agricultural land, for its quality and accessibility to markets, is the cheapest in the whole world, and that the price of food commodities (mainly from other coun- tries) sold in our markets is relatively high and conse- quently induces those countries to send them here in ever-increasing quantities and at a profit to themselves. These reflections should convince even the most superfi- cial student of our agricultural problem that, if there is little or no profit to the home agricultural producer, even when the whole burden of local taxation is lifted from his land, there is far too big a gap between the price which the producer receives and that which the consumer pays, and that that gap can only be effectively bridged by widespread' Co-operation, not merely in the sale of produce, but also in the purchase of raw materials, in road and rail transport, and in credit facilities. It is indeed by means of the invaluable weapon of Co-operation, coupled with assured quality and uniformity, that the British farmer's foreign competitors are able so success- fully to oust him from his own markets.
But agricultural Co-operation has been found by long experience in different parts of the world to have no vigorous growth except among a community of occupying owners and particularly among those smaller yeomen, who are often described as" peasant proprietors" or "family farmers." However much some of us may desire to retain the picturesque relics of an old feudal system which,, although it militated against the develop- ment of manly independence and initiative, brightened and solidified many an English country village, and although still more of us would deprecate the disappear- ance of the medium-sized farms, there can be no doubt that in course of time both the landlord-tenant system and the farm of over 800 acres of fertile land are bound to give place, in an overcrowded country like ours, to a system in which smaller holdings, owned by the farmer and worked solely by himself and his family, will largely predominate.
The best of fertilizers is not comparable with the "magic of ownership," as a stimulus to the produc- tivity and profit-earning capacity of agricultural land.
There is no reason whatever why a Socialistic Govern- ment, with the sympathy of at least two-thirds of its, political opponents, should not develop on a large scale so-called Occupying Ownership and its inevitable con- comitant Co-operation, and thus pull the agricultural industry out of the slough of depression into which it has sunk. All supporters of the present Government favour Co-operation, and if they are inclined to boggle at a multiplication of freeholders as being contrary to the Socialistic creed, it would be quite easy to take (at first by way of experiment) large areas of suitable land into Government ownership, after paying its full commercial value, and then let it out in smaller areas on long leases of 999 years. (If a nominal or "peppercorn " rent only be reserved, there might be charged as a premium on the granting of the lease a sum not differing appreciably from the value of the freehold—such sum being advanced, if required, by the Government.) This would have all the value of a freehold interest to a genuine and industrious farmer, but would enable the Government, by virtue of a covenant contained therein to cultivate according to the rules of good husbandry, to recover full ownership in the national interest in the event of flagrantly bad farming in days to come. • There is no particular virtue in the statutory limit of fifty acres, or even of an annual rental. value of £50, as constituting a "small-holding" To provide an economic • Unit, the required acreage depends upon the quality of the land, its suitability for growing particular crops, or carrying a particular type of livestock, as well as its proximity to good markets. In the hands of an experienced man there is, for instance, more profit to be derived from five acres of good fruit land in the Evesham Vale than out of 100 acres on the Cotswold Hills or the Wiltshire Downs. Suitable buildings and equipment with proper up-to-date labour-saving devices could be furnished upon these State lands, as in Denmark -and other countries, with the help of credit provided by the Government at a specially low rate of interest which would remain constant in spite of fluctuations in the current value of money. • Under such a system, with the -help of co-operation, improved transport, good quality male stock, and sound knowledge of the use of artificial fertilisers, the land of this country could produce at least twice the amount of food that is now raised from it and at far greater profit to the husbandman. Moreover, the co-operative system, if scientifically developed, would put a stop to the killing competition which now exists amongst farmers, WOuld destroy the cruelly Unfair "rings " now formed amongst dealers to the farmers' detriment in almost every provincial market, and would at the same time effect a greatei and much needed uniformity Of agricultural output of the type or quality which the consumer. demands. Furthermore, if the farmers con- trol, as they should control, the wholesale market or factory through which their products are sold or con- verted into marketable commodities, they themselves could attend exclusively to their proper business of farming (the representative of the shop or factory periodi- cally calling for such products at their farms) and thus save the 'dreadful waste of time, and sometimes of self- respect, in the process of constantly attending the market in the nearest- provincial town.
Finally the constitution of these family farms owned (in effect) by their cultivators has become an urgent need for the output not only of home-grown food, but also of efficient human beings well equipped for the task of peopling our overseas Empire with settlers of British race. It is, indeed, the human products of a peasant proprietary system, such as exists in Scandinavian countries, with all the resourcefulness, . self-reliance and bu-siness capacity which such a system inevitably produces, which are providing in countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand a far more experienced and more confident type of settler than the Old Country is able to do, either from among its urban unemployed or from among the ill-equipped denizens of a devitalized countryside operating helplessly under an outworn territorial and economic .system. All that is needed is a clear objective and courage on the part of the Government.
BLEDISLOE.
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