Evening star., 1934-12-30
Wallace on Crop Control

, industry and foreign trade can mean
much to the farmers part in bal
anced standard of better living. Def
mite notifications in the use Of land
would come with increased purchas-
| ing power.
When city industries re-establish
| their full level of production farmers
will have to turn to the very tangible
and specific objective of utilizing our
agricultural areas in the most eff
cient manner to supply the country
with its food clothing and certain in
| dustrial products for which raw ma
terials are derived from the farm.
The Nations diet is an important
factor in this objective. Dietitians
have worked out on the basis of the
best available information the kind
of diet that the country needs in
order to maintain adequate health
standards. Whether the Nations diet
is restricted or liberal depends to a
| large extent on its purchasing power.
The average family must have an in
come twice that of 1929 to enable
them to buy the liberal diet which
would absorb the product OF land now
in farms.
Effect of Diet on Output.
# city consumers could buy lib
eral diet the immediate adjustment
programs would take on an entirely
different character instead of having
100000 or 50,000,000 acres pro-
ducing surpluses, as in the last few
years, we probably would require all
these acres and more-not because
human stomachs would expand with
buying power, but because items in
the more liberal diet are generally
more costly in terms of land required
to produce them.
Such a diet would result in some
changes in the map of agricultural
production, for it would alter con-
siderably the proportions of various
farm commodities that make up our
menu. We would consume less cereals
and more live stock products than
we are accustomed to eat. We would
consume less wheat than at present.
We would eat more fruits, vegetables
and dairy products. The production
of truck crops, fruits and dairy
products would have to be doubled or
trebled to meet the ideal diet. An
industrial revival with full employ
ment and substantial increases in the
income of low-income groups would
be required to supply the needed
purchasing power to support such
| diet. And, in addition, the people
would have to understand much bet
ter than they now do the nutritional
values of balanced diets.
Trade Pacts Advised.
There may come general recog-
milton of the fact that we are a
creditor Nation and no longer
debtor Nation, and with that will
come a general understanding that If
we hope to sell our agricultural prod
ucts beyond the boundaries Of our
country we must greatly increase our
purchase Of imports. A foreign ma
ton which needs cotton will tend
to buy her cotton from countries
which purchase from her.
Trade agreements which this coun-
try might make to exchange agricul-
turaI products for other imports
would obviously extend the amount
of land which could be kept prof1ta-
bly, under cultivation and increase
the purchasing power of the farmer,
as well as the prosperity of shippers.
handlers and commission men who
are interested In agricultural volume.
1t is with labor upon these major
considerations that the Agricultural
Adjustment Administration enters its
important stop-gap year Of 1885.