Agricultural Productivity in relation to Population 
year; we can multiply for whatever factor we think fit, up to our 
own factor of ten, if we wish to provide a more agreeable and 
palatable diet. The Japanese, for example, are quite a healthy 
and prosperous people on the world scale, who only consume a 
little over two subsistence units each. They are content with a 
diet of rice, vegetables and a small quantity of fish, not very 
different from that of their ancestors. 
The number of subsistence units which can be produced by 
one man’s labour may vary from 1,000 produced by one man, 
aided by suppliers of equipment, fertilizers, transport, etc., on 
the Canadian prairies, to the poorest African cultivator, who 
can only produce subsistence for four or five working the whole 
year through. 
The amount of land required to provide for one person varies 
of course according to whether we are living at one or ten times 
subsistence level, but it also varies enormously according to our 
methods of food production. 
Before we begin to specify areas, we must take into account 
man’s need of wood, as well as of food and fibres. Our descen- 
dants, with all the nuclear power they want at their command, 
should not need fuel wood. Other requirements may range 
from 2 cubic metres round wood per person per year in the 
United States and Canada to not much more than 0:5 cubic 
metre in western European countries, which have to import 
wood. We do not really need more, even for houses. As timber 
prices have gone up, and concrete technology has improved, 
considerable economies in the use of wood have been effected; 
FAO have reported (1957) that the quantity of wood!2 used in 
an average western European house fell from 9-1 to 7-6 cubic 
metres in the short period 1950-55. The North American 
wastes forest products in the excessive size of his newspapers and 
other advertising and in the abundance and thickness of his 
wrappings. It would be better to impose a heavy tax on wood 
pulp, to conserve forests, to make the collecting of waste paper 
worth while, and to reduce litter. 
Wood consumption at the rate of 0-5 cubic metre can be 
restated at about 250 kilograms dry matter per person per year, 
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