FRANCE’S FOOD CROPS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1786, 7 February 1918, Page 4

FRANCE’S FOOD CROPS.

WORST IN FIFTY YEARS,

According to a statement recently made by the French Minister of Supply,' the 1917 harvest in France 'has been the worst in fifty years. This has been due in part to the exceptionally severe weather last winter, which did great damage to autumn sown crops, and even more largely to the disastrous spring. Almost till the end of April continuous snow and frost prevented any adequate work being done in the fields, and the consequent rush that came in the last few weeks could not possibly be coped with by the labourers and their women folk still left on the land. The decline in food output in France is made apparent by the following figui'es for the gross total production of wheat, maize, rye, barley, oats, potatoes, and sugar beet: — Bushels. 1914 1,057,000,000 1915 759,000,000 1915 798,000,000 1917 777,000,000 Discussing the shortage of labour, the Minister of Supply says; “Last year a slightly better season pulled the figures up somewhat, but the case is only too apparently one of deficiency in labour. Proportionately the recruitment of the French Army is much more largely from the iand than in Great Britain, where the industrial centres, both under the volunteer system, and the new service Acts, have provided the bulk of the men for the army. Actually it is estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture that 8,000,000 people of both sexes —a fifth of the population —are employed on the land in France, and from their number at the time of the mobilisation in 1914 3,000,000 of the best were taken. During the three years since that date the remnant of old men, unfit men, women, and children have had to carry on the work of this second line of defence. They have worked heroically.” He believes that the only possible way to prevent an even worse state of affairs next year is to release from the army 750,000 men for the winter and spring ploughing and sowing, “Their places,” remarks the Minister, “it is hoped, will be taken by American troops, and in view of the decreasing tonnage the best service America can do this country at the present time is to give opportunity for the proper cultivation of its fields.

“It is estimated,” he goes on to say, “that to make good the corn shortage 140,000,000 bushels will have to he imported, and advantage will, of coui’se, be taken of the pooled system of purchase and transport worked through the Wheat Export Committee in New York.” As far ns the civilian population is concerned, it is pointed out that things seem in some ways to have improved. Last winter coal rose to the exorbitant price of £lO a ton, and even at that price, when the Seine was frozen, it was very difficult to get. This year every household has been provided with a coat card, and, though the amount aup : plied is far from adequate, it may with the aid of wood, be made to eke the winter out. Bread cards, giving an allowance of lib. per day per person, are being issued, while the quality has been improved. The third card-controlled item, sugar, has been reduced in allowance from 750 grams to 500 grams (about 17 ounces) per month, a reduction which the Food Minister states will mean a saving of 150,000 tons, and a consequent available shipping space for 5,000,000 bushels of wheat.