The Future of British Agriculture

Abstract

AT a time like the present, when radical changes are taking place or being contemplated in our national economy, when countries like Great Britain, Holland and Denmark are abandoning the policy of Free Trade and venturing on the thorny paths of Protection and national self-sufficiency, efforts to discern the future acquire an interest and importance that far outweigh the vaticinations of those who don the prophet's mantle in more settled and humdrum times. History, we know, is replete with the misjudgments and miscalculations of statesmen and politicians who, besides having to deal with the incalculable in human nature, have also been handicapped by lack of scientific training and outlook; and the question is now frequently asked whether men trained in the methods and content of science could not do better? So far, they have seldom been called upon to act, or even to advise, in the affairs of State; and it is not certain that, had they been asked, they would have been more successful than their contemporary statesmen, trained in the law, the humanities or in business. Are the views of scientifically trained men on political, economic, social, religious and philosophical questions more far-sighted, more reasoned and less biased by traditional beliefs and emotional prejudices than those of others ?