The Prospect for Irish Agriculture

Abstract

FOR over thirty years Ireland has been divided into two: and this has meant that divergence of political outlook has affected the agricultural life to such an extent that the effect is discernible in the landscape. In a previous paper,1 attention was drawn to the results of wartime changes: in this short? and in some ways supplementary?paper, attention is drawn to the partial continuance of wartime trends during later years. But agricultural change is not a feature of a few years only, but rather of generations and therefore some consideration is given here to long-range developments?notably those from the Famine period till now. The futility of prophecy is apparent from a study of the literature written in the eighteen-forties on Ireland, when many hoped for a vast increase of cultivated land, and some authors (though perhaps not the most perspicacious) hoped for the settlement of even more people on the land than there then were. The area farmed has changed little and the number working on it has declined everywhere?and is apparently still declining. Every agricultural landscape changes from one generation to another: the need for food remains. To Great Britain, Ireland has some significance as a source of food, but food production in Ireland is not as great as it might be. Both governments in Ireland desire progressive industrialization: Northern Ireland's government wants to attract a wide range of industry rather than rely primarily on shipbuilding and linen, both of which are susceptible to depression; and the Republic's policy of reindustrialization, especially from 1932, has had a deliberate social purpose?to stern the emigration movement, to revive decaying country towns and in general to enrich the country. In both parts of Ireland some of the new industries process agricultural staples, but though all recognize the logic and the wisdom of this development, most of the Irish agricultural exports are sent out of the country on their hoofs, or as eggs and poultry; the trade in butter, cheese and canned meat, though increasing, is still comparatively small. But such developments as the trade in dried and condensed milk, especially from Northern Ireland, have the merit that they give industrial employment based on agricultural raw materials. Exports from Northern Ireland and the Republic differ markedly: from Northern Ireland2 the total value in 1951 was ?217,139,000, three-quarters of which was manufactured goods and ships, and one-quarter agricultural produce, including livestock (?15,412,000), grass seed (?1,926,000), together with food and drink (?32,577,000). The six counties imported food and drink values at ?64,373,000 and livestock valued at ?8,207,000?some of which came across the land border: the agricultural imports were therefore considerably higher than the exports. In the Republic,3 the total exports for 1951 were valued at ?79,842,000, of which ?64,337,000 (80 per cent.) was