The recent war has occasioned even greater changes in agricultural production than followed World War I. Lack of man power and draught power reduced the area of cultivation : lack of fertiliser and manure reduced the yields per acre: lack of feeding stuffs reduced livestock numbers and the output of meat, milk and eggs. This was precipitated at a time in history when it was already becoming evident that, despite improvement in agricultural technique, the output of food per acre over the world was rising comparatively little.

The pre-war agricultural problem, never clearly seen until recent years, of expanding production to meet the requirements of an increasing population, has become gravely accentuated by the additional problem of agricultural recovery following the second world war.