The Nevada County picayune., 1915-01-15
By Peter Radford Lecturer National Farmers Union

arm products Is today the world greatest problem and the war, while 1t has brought its hardships, has clearly emphasized the im- portance of distribution as fact or i'll American agriculture and promises to give the farmers the cooperation of the government and the business men the solution of their marketing problem.
 This result will, in measure, compensate Us for our war losses, for the business interests and government have been in the main assisting almost exclusively on the production side of agricul- ture. While the department of agriculture has been dumping tons of literature on the farmer telling him how to produce, the farmer has been dumping tons of products in the nations garbage can for want of a market.
 The World Will Never Starve.
 At no time since Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden have the inhabitants of this world suffered from lack of production, but some people have gone hungry from the day of ere ation to this good hour for the lack of proper distribution Slight variations in production have forced 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.
 We now have less than one tenth of the tillable land of the earth's surface under cultivation, and we not only have this sur plus area to draw on but 1t Is safe to estimate that in case of dire ne cessity one-half the earths popu- lation could knock tltir living out of the trees of the forests. gather 1t from wild vines and draw 1t from streams. No one should be- come alarmed; the world will never StarVc.
 The consumer has always feared that the producer would not sup ply him and his fright has found expression on the statute books of our states and nations. and the farmer has been urged to produce reckles~ly and without reference to a market. and regardless of the demands of the consumer.
 Back to the Soil.
 The city people have been urg- in1 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 earth's surface contains To- OO2. 10000 idle acres ot tillablc land where they can make liv- ing by tickling the earth with a torkcd stick, but we do not need them 70 far aS increasing produc- tion is concerned. The city man has very erroneous ideas of agri- cultural conditions. The common ly accepted theory that we are short on production is all wrong. Our annual increase in produc- ton far exceeds that of our in crease in population.
 The World as a Farm.
 Taking the world as one big farm. we find two billion acres oi land in cultivation. Ofthis amount there is approximately 750000,OO0 acres on the western and 1,260,- 100000 acres on the eastern hem isphere. in cultivation. This esti- mate does not include grazing lands, forests, etc.. where large quantities of meat are produced.
 The world annual crop ap- nroNimates fifteen billion bushels of cereals, tl'rtecn billion pound, of fibre and SiXty-hvc million tons of meat.
 The world shows an average increase in cereal production [. l3 per cent during the past de cadc, compared with the previous five years, while the worlds pop ulation shows an increase of only 5 per cent
 The gain in production far cN- ceeds that of our increase in pop ulation. and it is safe 10 estimate that the farmer can easily in crease production 25 per cent if a rcmuneratiye market can be found for the products.