Abstract
THE reconstruction of European agriculture will be one of the most urgent and complex tasks confronting the United Nations on the conclusion of hostilities. It is not reconstruction so much as revolution that is required to dispel the grinding, hopeless poverty of the vast mass of peasantry that has been a chronic cause of economic and political unrest, particularly in south-eastern Europe. For the sake of brevity the authors of this book have simplified the presentation of the problem without, however, sacrificing clarity. There are far too many farmers in Europe, they produce the wrong kinds of foodstuffs, they are ill-fed, and they are unorganized economically. The basis of re-organization must be increased industrialization to relieve rural overpopulation, the substitution of intensive mixed farming for predominantly grain farming, and great improvements in technical efficiency and marketing. The rural and urban populations would be economically complementary, each providing a steady market for the produce of the other. The economic, social and political obstacles to the realization of such a plan are immense, and the authors confront them boldly. They are, however, confident that they can be overcome, and their arguments, supported by well-marshaled facts, lend support to their confidence.
Food and Farming in Post-War Europe
P. Lamartine
Yates
D.
Warriner
By. (The World To-day Series.) Pp. 118. (London, New York and Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1943.) 3s. 6d. net.
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Food and Farming in Post-War Europe. Nature 152, 399 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152399b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/152399b0