Show WORLDS GREATEST PROBLEM WE ARE LONG ON production PR SHORT ON distribution by peter radford lecturer national farmers union the economic distribution of farm products is today the worlds greatest problem and the war while st it has brought its hardships has clearly emphasized pha sized the importance ot of distribution as a factor in american agriculture and promises to give the farmers the operation cooperation co of the government and the business men the solution of their marketing problem this result will in a measure compensate us for our war losses tor for the business interests and government have been in the main assisting almost exclusively on the production side of agriculture while the department of agriculture has been dumping tons ot of literature on the farmer telling him how to produce the farmer has been dumping tons of products in the nations garbage can tor for want of a market the world will never starve at no time since adam aud and eve were driven from the garden of eden have the inhabitants of this world suffered fromi from lack of production but some people have gone hungry from the day of creation to this good hour for the lack of proper distribution slight variations in hi production have forced a change in diet and one locality has felt the pinch of want while another surfeited but the world as a whole has ever been a land of plenty wo W to 10 have less than one tenth of the liable land of the earths surface under cultivation and we not only have this surplus area to draw on but it Is safi ro estimate sti mate that in case of dire nef nee katy one half the earths population could at the present time knock their living out of the ahe trees of the forest gather it from wild vines and draw it from streams no one should become alarmed the world will never starve the consumer has always feared that the producer would not supply him and his fright has found expression on the statute books of our states and nations nation and the farmer has been urged to produce recklessly and without reference to tea a market and regardless of the demands of the consumer back to the soil the city people have been urging each other to move back to the farm but very few of them have moved we welcome our city cousins back to the soil and this earths surface contains idle acres of tillable land where they can make a living by tickling the earth with a forked stick but WP vp do not need them so tar far as increasing production is ia concerned we now have all the producers we can use the city man has very erroneous ideas of agricultural conditions the commonly accepted theory that we are short on production is all wrong our annual increase in production tar far exceeds that of our increase in population the world as a farm taking the world orld as one big farm we find two billion acres of land in cultivation of this abou amou amount nt there is approximately acres on the western and acres on the eastern hemisphere in cultivation this estimate of course does not include grazing lands forests etc where large quantities of meat are produced the worlds annual crop approximates fifteen billion bushels of cereals thirteen billion pounds of fibre fabre and sixty five million tons of meat the average annual world crop tor for the past five years compared with the previous five years Is as follows past half previous halt half crops decade decade corn bu wheat bu oats bu cotton bales the world a shows hows an average increase in cereal production of 13 per cent during the past decade compared with the previous five years while the worlds population shows an increase of only three per cent the gain in production far exceeds that of our increase in population and it Is safe to estimate that the farmer can easily increase production 25 per cent it if a remunerative market can be found for the products in textile fibres fabres the world shows an increase during the past half decade in production ot of 15 per cent against a population increase of three per cent the people of this nation should address themselves to the subject ot of improved facilities tor or distribution |