The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1939-12-28
Bright Future
For Agriculture

,
& Company, told the Association of
Land-Grant Colleges and Universe
ties that the unrealiZed possibilities
of agriculture for expansion are
probably greater than those await
ing any other industry. Dr. Slime,
z recipient for 1910 of the coveted
Perkin medal awarded by the So
ciety of Chemical Industry, asserted
that they may conceivably equal the
possibilities of all other industries
combined.
The speaker declared that future
houses, highways and automobile
. bodies, all fabricated from annual
farm grown crops, by no means are
fantastic prophecies in the light of
present chemical knowledge. He
: described research that may lead to
the selective destruction of weeds
and of pests like the japanese beetle
and to control of the Towering and
fruiting of plants, rivaling in effect
such revolutionary things in indus
try as nylon textile fiber, the ra-
dio, and television.
1.-The dark side of agriculture"
said DR.. Slime, has received alto
, gether too much emphasis. The re-
sulting picture is one of decaying
ir,dusary 1t is one that deters
many able young people from agri-
cultural careers It implants the
seeds of discomfort and defeatism
1t undermines morale. And it is
a false picture.
1.-THE fact is that agriculture has
| profound attractions. Fortunately,
it has already drawn to its problems
| ao1arge number of able partisans
Especially is this true in the field
of scientific research. Some of the
best scientific minds in the world
are to be found among the person
mel of our Immigrant colleges. 9th
ers are in the federal and state
| services.
able men are identified with the
farm cooperatives There are able
farmers on the land The badges
of their ability are their well-kept
acres and their accounts at the To-
cal banks, which, while leaner than
in better days, are still substantial.
| Money is being made at farming ev-
en- today by tens of thousands who
know the land and who have kept
IN step with progress.
| However, if agriculture's larger
| problems are to be solved expedi-
tiously, the industry must continue
| to gain recruits who are able and
| willing. It must hold its most prom
Using youth on the land 1t must
Law the spectre of defeatism.
Instead of contracting or stab
| ilizing its facilities for scientific ex-
| ploration and experiment, they
| should be tremendously expanded
although the problems confront
ing it are of the most highly COM
| plex and diversified nature, agri-
! culture in this country is not max
ing nearly as great research as
is other American industry For
/ example, the chemical industry,
which has forged ahead even under
depression brakes, spends from 2
per cent to 4 per cent of its annual
| gross sales revenue on research.
Agriculture, in contrast, spends
only about IT of | per cent of the
value of its products on research.
| And it does not spend that per
centage directly from its own pock-
ct. Government foots the bill.
LAS much as S240,000,000 might
be expended annually in the United
States on agricultural research, and
the expenditure would not be at all
fantastic or out of line with the
need. That sum would be only 3
per cept-of an eight-billion-do dollar
farm income
| Commencing the recent establish
ment by the u. S. Department of
Agriculture of four regional labora-
tories for large-scale research, DR..
Slime said 1T may we'll mark a
turning of the tide, the beginning of
| a development that may mean a
new dedication of science to the
solution of agriculture's ills.
There should be more laborator-
les of the kind, supported by agri-
culture itself | envision day,
perhaps not nearly so distant either,
when privately supported farm or
CARNATIONS will function not mere
| ly as marketing and purchasing CO.
operatives but also as research agen-
cies. Their chief emphasis, indeed.
may be on research efforts.
II DR. Slime urged greater en-
phasis on fundamental research in
| agriculture, declaring that, we
| have not been sufficiently in earn
est in our efforts to approach work.
able solutions for many of the prob
| lens which are among agriculture
most pressing problems and which
| undoubtedly cause huge annual loss
es. Our solutions have been too
largely dependent upon an obvious
and superficial approach to the
| problem
Il Pointing out that fundamental sci
entific research is the basis of revo-
lutionary industrial advances, DR..
Slime asserted that research could
| effect equally profound revolutions
| in( agriculture He cited present
| Studies of the japanese beetle as
Han example.
| Research work he said, aimed
| at discovering exactly what the
| digestive processes Of the beetle are,
or the nature of its reproductive
| cycle, is intended TO yield data Of
basic importance in attempting to
find a solution of this growing
menace
| What changes he asked, take
~ x,a.l LII