FOOD FOR BRITONS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 79, 27 December 1937, Page 4

FOOD FOR BRITONS

Scientists' _ Vait Plaiis for Swifter Crops Britoas will aever starve. fiuddea mt might cripple many soeial services, but wonid not cause a feed shertage even if proioaged fer years. Scientists aaaeuaeed reeently the completien oi a vast emergeney fobd plan which coiiid be operating within a few hours of an Otttbreak of hosili* ties. Grops that noW take months to mature could be artificially ripened in as many weeks, vast quantities of food CO'uld " be seCretly" Stored for ldng periods, and the production capabilities of agricultural land could be greatly inereased. One df Britain 's leading Chemical reieeafch specialists told thO Daily BketCh; "We can now make Britain Self-sup-.porting fof a xninimum period of from ItWo td three years by intensive meth'ods, and no war is likely to last anything iike as iong as that. "Hay crops, first eSBOntial in the nation *s milk suppiy, can be artificially prodiiced in three weeks. "Wheat can be brought from sowing to maturity in little more than a month. "The method employed is to sow the SSed in hUge trays filled with chemically treated water and force its growth in artlficial light. No soil is used. Aii the chemical componeuts requir&a for rapid growth are in the water.1" New methods ef fertiiisiag will be used to make many large areas of waste land preductiva. Bro^agaada is being used to initiate a general movement to improve fertilisatioa and keep the soil everywhere in good health against an emergeney. In the last war eompulsory tiilage schemes were introduced by the Government. In the event of another emergeney the use of eertain fertiliseri would be made eompulsory aiso. Potatoes aiso figure largely in the national food emergeney seheme; lo great have been the advances made in increasing natural crops that researehes into the question of prodnc* ing synthetic, er "tablet" food have been dropped almost entirely. •"ViTtrri i -i rri - 1 -i. raii.