Book Review: Western Europe, Agriculture in Western Europe
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000223 |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
267
plete.
And
yet
we did
have
our
localisms,
and
we
have
managed
to
overcome
them.
Professor
Freymond has
done
well
to keep
the
pos-
sibility
in
men's minds.
Cambridge,
Massachusetts
ARTHUR
E.
SUTHERLAND
AGRICULTURE
IN
WESTERN
EUROPE.
By
Michael
Tracy.
1964.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Burns
&
MacEachern.
415pp.
$12.00)
The
agriculture
of
the
western
world
has
been
in a
continual
fer-
ment
since
World
War
II.
Through
new
techniques
and increased
mech-
anization,
farms
have
been
enlarged and
production
has
been
increased.
Less
than
10
per
cent.
of
the
population
in
Canada
and
the
United
States
is
now
found
on
farms,
yet
farm
income
continues
to
lag
behind
that
of
other
sectors
of
the
economy.
Western
Europe,
the
traditional
market
for
surplus
food
from
North
America,
exhibits
the
same
trend.
Nowhere,
perhaps,
is it
more evident
than
in
France, the
country
which
has
40
per
cent
of
the
agricultural
potential
of
the
European
Common
Market.
The
success of
the
agricultural
sector
of
the
Fourth Plan
has
enabled
de
Gaulle to offer
1,000,000
tons
of
wheat
for
sale
to
Red
China,
yet
the
years
1962-4
saw
a
relative
rise
in
farm
income
of
only
9
per
cent
in
comparison with
13
per cent
for
the
total
French
economy.
"Les
paysans
frangais
sont
les
derniers
in
France,
les
derniers
en
Europe".
Michael
Tracy
offers
a
welcome
background
of
economic
history
which
goes
far
to
explain
why
agriculture
should
be
the
weak sister
among
European
industries.
While
general
conditions
are
dealt
with
briefly,
Tracy
limits
his
detailed
discussions
pretty
well
to
events
in
the
United Kingdom,
France,
Germany
and
Denmark.
Part
I
deals
with
the
"Great
Depression"
of
1880-1900,
when
overseas competition
forced
European governments
to
adopt
varying
degrees
of
protection
for
their
farmers.
Part
II
deals
with
the
crisis
of
the
1930's
which
brought
on
a
second
wave
of
protectionism.
Part
III
deals
with
events
since
World
War
II,
while
Part
IV
is
a
discussion
of
the international
aspects
of
future
agricultural
developments.
In
spite
of
national
efforts,
agricultural
production
was
at
a
low
ebb
at
the
close
of
World
War
II
and
the
immediate
concern
throughout
Europe
was to
increase
the
supply
of
farm
commodities
as
rapidly
as
possible.
With
foreign
aid
and
advice,
new
machines,
new
techniques
and
fertilizers,
so
much was
accomplished
that,
in
many
cases,
a
defi-
ciency
was
turned
into
a
surplus.
Farm
incomes,
however,
have
not
risen
as
much
as
those
in
other
sectors
of
the
economy
and
agriculture
remains
in a
depressed
condition.
Even
the
European
Economic
Com-
munity
will
not
prevent this
comparative
decline,
though
it
may
ease
the
tension
in
specific
agricultural areas.
Michael
Tracy's study
does
not
offer
any
new
or
startling
conclu-
sions,
but
his
careful presentation
of
the
case
in
several
national
areas
makes
it
all
the
more
obvious
that
government
policies
must
be
directed
toward
the
enlargement
and
higher
capitalization
of
the
basic
farm
unit,
and
the
shift
of
more
agriculturists
into
other
occupations. This
is
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