186 PRODUCTION 



relieve the pressure upon agricultural resources in the importing 

 regions. Fourthly, it is known that the yield of crops per acre can 

 be greatly increased by means of artificial fertilisers. It has been 

 shown above that the output of these fertilisers has grown rapidly 

 and promises to grow at a still more rapid rate in the future, so 

 that the agricultural output of the more accessible parts of the 

 temperate regions may be greatly increased without any additions 

 to the productive area. This, indeed, is one of the most promising 

 ways in which the physical limitations in the available area of 

 agricultural land may be counteracted. It leads directly to in- 

 tensification which is the obvious means of increasing the supplies 

 of foodstuffs in keeping with the needs of a growing population, 

 when the area of productive land is limited. It is quite possible 

 that enormous developments will take place in the use of artificial 

 fertilisers in the near future, with consequences that cannot easily 

 be foretold. Fifthly, scientific and technical progress is being 

 made in animal husbandry and in other branches of agriculture 

 which, in a number of special developments, tends to increase the 

 net output per acre of land employed. It may be sufficient to 

 mention under this head the gradual eradication of plant and 

 animal diseases, improvements in the strains of cultivated plants 

 and in the breeds of domestic animals, and the steadily increasing 

 technical knowledge of the average farmer. 



Against the general growing charges for labour in the production 

 of animal foodstuffs may be set, first, the increasing use of machinery 

 in dairying and in the preparation and manufacture of a number 

 of different articles in this class of foodstuffs, and second, the spread 

 of co-operation in production and marketing. 



To what extent the sum total effect of these various ameliorating 

 factors will be successful in counteracting the effect of the general 

 factors that make for a rise in the cost of production and in the 

 market prices of animal foodstuffs is a difficult question to answer. 

 It will be noted that there is nothing to counteract the charges 

 for capital which constitute a serious and growing item of expense 

 in the production of animal foodstuffs, in the economic stage that 

 is now being entered upon. On the whole, these factors are hardly 

 likely to prevent an upward tendency (independently of any special 

 conditions created by the European War) in the relative price of 

 animal foodstuffs for some years to come. 



The future movements in the price-level of animal foodstuffs 

 depend especially upon the intensity of the demand for them 

 among white populations, and this in its turn upon the level of the 

 general purchasing power. As is shown below, the cost price of 

 animal foodstuffs per unit tends under the present conditions to 

 increase sharply with a rise in the per capita consumption and 

 vice versa. 1 If the population of Europe find themselves poorer 

 after the war they may reduce their consumption 01 these articles, 

 and the result would be to lower their prices somewhat rapidly. 



1 See Part II. Chap. v. 



