126 PRODUCTION 



tries alone are considered, the value of the balance of net exports 

 was nearly 27 million in the same year. The total value of the 

 imported feedstuff s is considerable, and the country depends to 

 a large extent upon imported supplies of wheat and other cereals 

 for human consumption, so that Ireland is not improperly classed 

 with Denmark and Holland as being of the elaborating-commercial 

 type with regard to its animal industries. The natural conditions 

 in Ireland favour pastures and potato crops and these are the basis 

 of the stock-rearing industries, but without imports of concentrated 

 feedstuffs the present position of those industries would be 

 threatened, and they would be completely disturbed, if the country 

 were compelled to grow its own requirements in food cereals. Two 

 of the important branches of animal industries in Ireland, namely 

 pig-rearing and egg-production depend in no small measure upon 

 imported supplies of feedstuffs, and the great dairy industry to 

 which each of these is to some extent tributary, likewise demands 

 imported feedstuffs, for the successful carrying of dairy cows 

 through the winter. 



Concerning the consumption of animal foodstuffs in Ireland, the 

 facts are not so easily ascertainable as in the case of other countries. 

 In general it is safe to assume that the per capita consumption of 

 most animal foodstuffs is below the level of the whole United King- 

 dom ; and it is probably higher in the industrial area of the north 

 than elsewhere, so that any increase in the proportion of the popu- 

 lation of that area to that of the whole of Ireland would be likely 

 to cause an increase in the per capita consumption of the country. 

 However, there has certainly been a general increase in the pros- 

 perity of Irish agriculture in recent years, and these improved 

 conditions appear likely to continue. This change is likely to pro- 

 duce an increase in the per capita consumption of animal foodstuffs 

 in Ireland, if it has not done so already, and this would tend to 

 reduce the exportable surplus. 



The outlook for the increased production of animal foodstuffs 

 in Ireland in the near future is, on the whole, promising. The 

 country is no longer over-populated, and the resources in soil and 

 climate can now be directed to the production of those things for 

 which they are best suited, namely, animal foodstuffs ; the oceanic 

 climate, while unsuited in general to cereal crops, except perhaps 

 oats, is admirably adapted to the production of forage crops and 

 pasture grasses ; and the reforms in the system of land tenure 

 and the spread of scientific methods and proper agricultural organi- 

 sation are likely to assist in the progress of Irish farming. There 

 appears to be no reason why animal industries in Ireland should 

 not become considerably more intensive, given facilities for import- 

 ing concentrated feedstuffs from abroad. It is distinctly possible 

 when peace conditions are restored, that both the gross production 

 and the exportable surplus of animal foodstuffs in Ireland may 

 increase considerably, as has happened in the case of such articles 

 as eggs and butter in quite recent years. 



