FOR
INDIANA
FARMERS
INFORMATION
Volume 1, No. 6
Lafayette,   Indiana
December,  1947
Prepared by members of the Agricultural Staff of Purdue University
LOW PRODUCTION LEVEL EUROPE'S TROUBLE
By
E. L. BUTZ, L. S. HARDIN and E. C. YOUNG
HOW LONG can we expect
the European demand for
American food to continue is
the question that many
Hoosier farmers and farm
leaders have asked us since
our return from Europe a few
weeks ago.
The answer to this question
is that the European demand
for food is practically unlimited as long as we give it to
them. It makes no difference
whether the transfer is called
a grant, loan, lend lease or
some term yet to be coined.
The European nations to which
we are currently shipping food
have very few, if any, dollars
with which to pay for it. Worse
still, they have very few exportable surplus items the United
States will buy so that they can get funds to use in payment
for food.
It should not be inferred from the preceding paragraph
that Europe does not need food this winter. It does. However,
the tight food situation in Europe results more from unfavorable crop years in 1945 and 1947 than it does from the
war or lack of effort on the part of the European farmer.
Europe had a relatively good crop year in 1946, and was
making fairly rapid recovery toward supplying her own food
needs. In fact, livestock numbers had begun to increase in
many parts of western Europe. This is always an indication
that an easier feed and food situation exists.
Situation Serious In France
Progress toward recovery in food production, however,
was interrupted sharply by the worst winter in 1946-47 and
the driest summer in 1947 that Europe has experienced in
many years. In France, for example, last winter's worst freeze
In 50 years destroyed much of the wheat that had been
planted in the fall. This was followed by the driest summer
In a century and a half. Consequently, the 1947 wheat crop
was only about 40 per cent as large as anticipated. This is
England's narrow hedge-bordered roads,
small fields, and extravagant use of labor appear inefficient by American standards.
especially serious in view of
the fact that bread normally
constitutes from 40 to 50 per
cent of the French diet.
As a result of the wheat
shortage, the official bread
ration in France now stands at
200 grams per person per
day. This is a little stick of
bread about two inches in diameter and six inches long.
Moreover, the bread is very
dark in color and low in quality. Frenchmen grumble a lot
about the quantity and quality
of the bread they are getting.
Livestock Industry
Depends On Feed
Imports
The agricultural plant of western Europe is largely intact,
and will respond quickly if the weather is favorable next
year. The war did little damage to the agricultural plant
except in relatively small areas of Holland, which were
flooded, and in small sections of eastern France and western
Germany where intensive fighting occurred. European farmers need more fertilizer and could use more machinery. To
an American observer, agriculture on the Continent appears
to be exceedingly inefficient.
Most units are small and the level of mechanization is low.
However, this has always been true. Livestock farmers now
need more feed concentrates, particularly oil cake. The livestock industry in the low countries and in England was based,
before the war, on large imports of feedstuffs. Because of
the difficulty of obtaining large shipments of feed recently,
the poultry and pig populations have been reduced materially. However, the dairy population has recovered rapidly
from the war years.
British People Well Nourished
There is little meat or fat in the English diet. The British
people are rather rigidly rationed on food. It was our impres-
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