Abstract
THE causes of the present agricultural depression in Great Britain are reviewed by Mr. C. S. Orwin, director of the Institute for Research in Agricultural Economics at Oxford, in an article in the Political Quarterly, vol. 2, No. 1, entitled “The Agricultural Problem”. Although the assertion that in previous years wages have been based entirely on the price of wheat is probably an over-statement, it is evident that at the present time wages are fixed with reference to a standard of living regardless of the condition of the industry, and the fact that the necessity for paying a statutory wage continues, while the guarantee for prices has been withdrawn, constitutes one of the farmer's chief complaints. From a comparison of the costs of production of such commodities as wheat, mutton, and milk for the years 1914, 1925, and 1930, it appears that for the two earlier years the corresponding figures were almost identical, and even in 1930 the cost of production has only risen appreciably in the case of wheat. The problem is, therefore, mainly one for the arable farmer; but the obvious course of abandoning corn-growing in favour of the more profitable industries is no solution for the eastern districts, where climatic conditions are unsuitable for dairying or market gardening; and further, the transformation of these areas into sheep farms could only be done at a great sacrifice of employment and production.
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News and Views. Nature 127, 207–212 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127207c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127207c0