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nation is still not self-supporting, the reasons for a substantial
increase in world food production become even more compelling.
This has become the world's most human and pressing problem.
Strenuous efforts to improve dairy farming and make a positive
contribution to reduce the world food deficiency are being made
by geneticists who, with the aid of hormones and computers, are
trying to increase the reproduction rate of sheep in this country
wnicn is notoriously low in the present breeds. Interbreeding with
Romanoff stock or with the black sheep of Abyssinia and the rare
Landrace of Finland, all of which have four or more lambs yearly,
is already showing some startling results. It is estimated that,
suitably supported schemes of this nature could, within 10 years,
replace Britain's existing breeds with others of greater fecundity.
The possibilities in this sphere are unlimited and the extension to
other farm animals a mere formality. With similar methods the
geneticists have already managed to increase the production rate of
chickens by 50 eggs per year on 20% less food.
Unfortunately, the areas of greatest malnutrition are those of
the under-developed and over-populated countries, where the
chances of improved food output are remote, if not impossible.
The more developed and civilised areas of Europe and America
are, therefore, charged with the responsibility of making good this
world food deficiency. However, it cannot be over-stressed that
most of the arable land in these countries is already under cultivation,
and increases in production are to be achieved only by the
use of modern scientific and technological methods which include
the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, not to
mention the use of antibiotics, coccidiostatics, tranquillizers, anthelminthics
and hormones in dairy farming. If present in sufficient
quantities, effects of ingesting many of these compounds can be
dangerous and far reaching.
It is no small wonder, therefore, that great anxiety has been
expressed not only about the increased chemical manipulation of
food, but also the use of newer additives in the field of preservation,
which, as a result of the need for greater food conservation, has
become more vital than ever especially in respect of "out-ofseason"
comestibles.
As if these burdens were hardly enough for local authorities
to carry, other serious problems are threatening. Long-lived
fission products such as strontium 90, iodine 131, caesium 137,
etc., residues from nuclear experiments, will be held in the soil for
many years to come and will eventually find their way into the
nation's food. At the moment the amounts are negligible, but the
situation requires constant vigilance. Examination of such