Abstract
THE general assembly of the International Commission of Agriculture, which met at Lausanne on July 21-22, was attended by delegates from sixteen countries and thirty-five national agricultural organisations, and a statement has been issued on world agricultural policy. It was emphasised that the world agricultural crisis is due to the fact that production and the increased means of securing production have outstripped both present consumption possibilities and population increases, while purchasing power has meanwhile declined. The Commission therefore considers that a judicious organisation of production and exchange will constitute one of the most effective means for fighting the agricultural crisis and establishing the prosperity of nations on a new basis. The first step would be to substitute orderly marketing, through the agency of associated bodies or by means of systematic State-controlled quota import arrangements, for the present unregulated offers of large quantities of commodities on world markets. Simultaneously, all means of stimulating consumption in general will have to be considered. Efforts will have to be made to improve and regularise quality and to cheapen retail sale. An appropriate wages policy will have to be adopted which, while allowing of a decrease in the number of the unemployed, will take account of national purchasing power. The question of new markets should also be studied, and, for the time being, also that of the export of existing surpluses to countries where the populations are suffering from underfeeding or famine. Further, an increased consumption of products of animal origin would absorb a larger portion of the surplus of vegetable products, which would be transformed into milk and meat. Finally, building should be encouraged by all suitable means. The International Commission of Agriculture recommends agriculturists to support the work of international collaboration, to associate themselves with efforts which aim at the maintenance of peace, at guaranteeing the security of property, and at drawing closer the bond which unites economic groups and nations in a common interest.
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World Agricultural Policy. Nature 130, 197 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130197b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130197b0