1920.] 



The 1921 Wheat Crop. 



425 



is required for the production of meat and milk, while this 

 meat and milk between them provide about 42 per cent, of the 

 total stock of food produced by our soils. 



Wheat occupies 4 per cent, only of our cultivated land, while 

 wheaten bread accounts for 16 per cent, of the stock of food 

 ofown on our soils. In addition, wheat offals and wheat straw 

 contribute to the meat and milk supply ; before the War less 

 than 70 per cent, of the grain w^as made into bread. 



If we are to make any substantial addition to our home food 

 supply we must grow more wheat. 



From these figures it may be shown that the land which we 

 devote to wheat produces about seven times as much food per 

 acre as the land we employ in stock-farming. 



New Problems for the Producer. — For 50 years before the 

 War the producer of British wheat regarded the consumer 

 merely as a customer, and a bad customer he was 1 There was 

 no obligation on the farmer to provide the public with bread, 

 or, indeed, with any kind of farm produce except milk and 

 potatoes. 



But among those things which the War has changed most 

 is the relationship between producers and consumers in this 

 densely populated kingdom; for there are now^ indications that 

 if we do not increase our home supplies we may have to go 

 hungry. And if our people call for bread they will not be satis- 

 fied even should w^e offer them prime beef and mutton. 



Much has been said recently in agricultural discussions 

 about the danger of a serious fall in corn prices; there is at the 

 moment quite as much risk of trouble for the farmer from a 

 serious rise, for it will be agreed that scarcity prices for bread 

 would not make agriculture a healthy industry. 



The Minister of Food told the House of Commons recently 

 that the average cost of North American wheat landed in this 

 country in May was 148s. 8d. per 480 lb. Exchange, the 

 wastage of war, coal, transport workers' wages, and many 

 other factors affect price; but all of them together do not 

 explain the present cost of American wheat. The great 

 increase which has taken place in the last few months is due 

 to a* cause which has a peculiar significance for the British 

 farmer. 



In the five years ending 31st July, 1914, the principal wheat 

 exporting countries shipped 18,000,000. metric tons of wheat.* 



* A nu'trif ti)n i^s 2,204 i lb. 



