Stimulating Our Agriculture
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MUCH is being said regarding the importance of improving the position in this country in respect of agriculture. Despite the wish of the nation to do everything possible to promote trade with the Empire overseas, we cannot afford to allow the farming industry to continue to deteriorate. Increased supplies of home-produced food constitute one of our most vital weapons of defence.
It has been shown quite clearly that to endeavour to stimulate production when an emergency arises is leaving matters far too late, for it takes many months, and, in some cases, years, to make an appreciable difference in output. We have the land, although much of it has been neglected for far too long, but, In our opinion, the major problem is to prevent the constant diminution in the number of agricultural workers, and to do everything possible to encourage a return to the land. Some farmers tell us that nearly all the youth in the country districts is migrating to the towns, leaving only the older hands, and if this process of attrition be allowed to continue, farming in this country will die out with the present generation of labourers.
Better pay, improved housing and more facilities for amusement are essential. The mechanization of farms is certainly helping, and, with encouragement, can do more. The younger generation in country areas should be thoroughly trained in the employment of such modern methods. The youth of the congested areas should be afforded similar facilities and given Government assurance that the career of mechanized farming will be a paying occupation, presenting more opportunities than are likely to be available in industries and businesses, for which latter positions the supply is already greater than the demand. Classes in the principles of agriculture should be inaugurated in more of our colleges and schools and rendered available to all at comparatively low fees.