Differing Farmers
The sugar beets, though by no means bumper crops, have been well and quickly harvested and have crucially affected the balance-sheet of a good many farmers. On the whole farming has been more prosperous throughout the country ; but the industry is one in which market tendencies are almost as likely to injure one farmer as benefit another. This has lately been disastrously illustrated in reference to the poultry farmers who have immensely increased their range of late years. Indeed the sheds sprinlded freely over the open fields have almost changed the scenery of some districts. These large-scale poultry farmers have been very severely punished by the higher prices of grain. When the value of wheat first collapsed half a century ago the Danish farmers rejoiced as generally as ours lamented. Now, they argued, we can feed our pigs and poultry cheaply. One man's meat is another man's poison. Is cheap grain meat or poison ? The East and West of England would give very different answers. The West would be more likely to agree with the Danes who certainly founded their system on cheap grain.
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