Farmers And The World

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 292, 26 January 1945, Page 5

Farmers And The World

EADERS of our interview with Mr. G. S. Browne, reported on Page 8 of this issue, will notice that he was embarrassed whenever it was necessary to say plainly what the mission of his party really was. It was not easy for him to tell us, in two or three words that. the farmers of Britain have become internationalists; though it was proved by their visit to New Zealand. Similarly it was not easy for our own farmers to accept that explanation at its face value: they received it, gave it umeasy approval, and even passed'a resolution associating themselves with it; but there was embarrassment on both sides. One reason was that international is a difficult word in a world at war. It is not easy to call your neighbour your brother when your plan is to kill him before he kills you. But the chief reason was the difficulty of advancing an idealistic philosophy that was at the same time such obviously good business. We don’t blush when we say that honesty is the best policy-we have said it so often. But we hesitate to say that unselfishness is the best policy, though that is what these farmers came from Britain to. tell us. They came to say that the farmer’s job all over the world is. to feed the people, and that this means more than producing the food; that a narrow, selfish, shortsighted view by the world’s producers may lead to gluts in some places and starvation in others; and that they had "dedicated themselves to the task of achieving equitable distribution." But they were too honest to say that their sole motive was to feed the hungry. The hungry had to be fed, they said, if they were to remain peaceful and become economically efficient, with living standards that would mean a steady demand: for farm produce. But farmers dedicate themselves with difficulty. They are not good evangelists, and they feel uneasy if a hymnbook is put in their hands and they are asked to join in the singing. They: did join in, and as time goes on they will join in more heartily, but they are a shy and hesitant choir in the meantime.