254 CONSUMPTION 



Under actual conditions, throughout those parts of the world 

 controlled by white peoples, the consumption of meat and other 

 animal foodstuffs has risen to such a point in proportion to the avail- 

 able areas of natural pastures that the rearing of food-producing 

 animals has passed far beyond the stage of being a mere incidental 

 factor in general farm -economy ; it has indeed become one of the 

 principal branches of agriculture. Large areas of valuable agri- 

 cultural land that might theoretically be utilised for producing 

 crops for human consumption are laid down to pastures for animals 

 or remain as natural pastures for the same purpose ; man)- millions 

 of tons of maize and other cereals are grown for the express purpose 

 of providing feedstuffs and fattening material for food-producing 

 animals ; and further, large areas are devoted to fodder and root 

 crops for the same end. Altogether, vast agricultural resources, 

 in addition to those in the form of natural pastures, are employed 

 in the business of producing animal foodstuffs. In Europe, North 

 America, South America and Australasia, taken together, it is 

 probably no exaggeration to say that at least one half of all the 

 crops grown in any given year (excluding the produce of all pastures 

 except hay crops) is ultimately used as feedstuffs for food-producing 

 animals. 1 Certainly considerably more than one half of all the 

 land produce, including grass from pastures, is so utilised in these 

 four continents. 2 Nor is this all, because large sums of capital have 

 been expended in the improvement of live-stock, in the farm build- 

 ings for housing them, and in the plant and machinery on and off 

 farms, used directly or indirectly in the production and preparation 

 of animal foodstuffs. 8 The production of these foodstuffs has 

 become a very elaborate and costly business. It competes severely 

 in most temperate countries with the production of food crops for 



1 Figures available for the United Kingdom serve as an indication of the 

 proportion of crop-produce devoted to animals. The average total supplies 

 of grain of all kinds available in the United Kingdom in the period 1909-13 

 were 16-9 million tons, of which 9-2 million tons were fed to animals, including 

 horses (Wood, National Food Supply). 



If feed-cakes are included and the oats fed to horses deducted, then food- 

 producing animals consumed about one-half of the supplies ; but the animals 

 of the United Kingdom produced only about one half of the total British 

 consumption of animal foodstuffs, taken together, and in order to do so con- 

 sumed an additional 61 million tons dry weight of grass and other fodders. 

 (Wood, National Food Supply, p. 19). 



2 A difficulty occurs incidentally in finding a common unit of measurement 

 for land produce in the form of different crops. The ton dry weight is simple 

 and easy to calculate, but the ton of starch equivalent is more accurate 

 scientifically owing to the difference in feed value between, say, a ton of 

 maize and a ton of hay, both dry weight. 



3 In the United States, for example, according to the Census Report for 

 1910, the value of the farms and property with live-stock as the principal 

 source of income was 15,000 million dollars, while the value of the animals 

 accounted for an extra 3,400 million dollars The value of the wholesale 

 packing and refining establishments was nearly 400 million dollars in addition. 

 The total capital value was therefore nearly ^3,800 millions. No capital 

 employed in the retail trade or in transportation is included. 



