^/V. f UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN Issued Weekly Vol. XV MARCH 18, 1918 No. 29 Entered as second-class matter December 11, 1912. at the post office at Urbana, Illinois, under the Act of August 24, 1912.) A PROGRAM IN FOOD PRODUCTION By EUGENE DAVENPORT Dean of the College of Agriculture PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS Under the Direction of the War Committee URBANA The Latest Word: Sell wheat; don't hold it. To hold back wheat for a higher price may mean to lose the war. The outcome depends today more upon the civil population than upon the military. A PROGRAM IN FOOD PRODUCTION In ordinary times the farmer follows the markets and raises the crops that pay him best. This is not only good business but in the long run it is the best way of serving the public. Now, however, a higher duty rests upon him. He is in posses- sion of our lands and he must produce, first of all, those foods which the world needs most, regardless of what may be most profitable. Like the soldier, he must do the thing which circumstances require, even at a sacrifice. Unlike the soldier, he will not be called upon to make the supreme sacrifice. While the war lasts, the obligation of the farmer is to work his lands to the best advantage of the Nation and its Allies. In the last analysis the land belongs to the people, and the question before every farmer now is this : "What would Uncle Sam tell me to do on my farm if he were a real person in charge of this war and the resources of the country ?" The markets, being demoralized by congested and irregular transportation, are no longer a guide to what the world needs. That guide is now the Food Administration, which knows the needs of the armies and the Allies and whose expression of these needs as en- dorsed by the Department of Agriculture is the working basis for an effective program in food production. All these needs are for standard foods, and we shall get on best by adhering to the major foods produced by methods well established by long experience. The situation does not call for a revolution in American farm practice, but rather for certain shifts to meet the disturbed conditions across the water. THE NEED FOR WHEAT The supreme need is for wheat, the greatest of all the bread grains and, with minor exceptions, the most readily transported and stored. European fields are devastated and European farmers have largely turned soldiers. Remote supplies are shut away by lack of shipping, and America must make good that reduction. This will call for more than twice our usual export. With a world shortage when the war began and with a bad season behind us, every acre that can grow wheat should do that work until the shortage is made good and a safe surplus is accumulated. FAT Wars are fought on fat, and fat is the most concentrated of all the forms of food that put energy into the body. It is fat that the Germans lack : it is fat that our corn can produce far beyond the capacity of any other crop. Vegetable fats and oils are good, but for a variety of reasons the animal fats are far better. Our second great undertaking must be, therefore, to produce the largest amounts possible of the animal fats. PORK Of all forms of animal fat, butter and pork are the most de- sirable, butter for sedentary people and pork for the laborer, the camper, the soldier — the man who lives out of doors and who needs to get the greatest possible energy out of his food. For this purpose pork is better than butter, for it carries a considerable proportion of lean meat. Pork is preferable for still another reason: the pig can make more pounds of human food out of his feed than can any other animal except the cow, and that is a fundamental consideration now. The following table from Jordan's "The Feeding of Animals" gives the amounts of human food actually eatable that can be made by the different animals from one hundred pounds of digestible feed. HUMAN FOODS PRODUCED FROM 100 POUNDS OF DIGESTIBLE MATTER CONSUMED ANIMAL EDIBLE SOLIDS ANIMAL EDIBLE SOLIDS IN POUNDS IN POUNDS Cow (milk) 18.0 Poultry (eggs) 5.1 Pig (dressed) 15.6 Poultry (dressed) 4.2 Cow (cheese) 9.4 Lamb (dressed) 3.2 Calf (dressed) 8.1 Steer (dressed) 2.8 Cow (butter) 5.4 Sheep (dressed) 2.6 Not only is the pig the most efficient source of all the fats, but fortunately Indian corn, the great crop in which America excels, is of all the feeds the best for the making of high-grade pork. Here is a cumulative advantage in food production possessed by no other country in the world. LESS FAT BEEF AND MUTTON If we are to raise more wheat with less labor, it must mean some reduction in the corn crop, and this reduction must be made good by marketing our beef and mutton with less fat. Tallow and mutton fat are far less eatable than are pork and butter, and the carcass of beef and mutton is less easily transported and stored than is bacon. We shall eat leaner beef and mutton, therefore, while the war lasts and, for a time at least, less of it. KEEP UP NUMBERS This need not mean that we shall raise fewer animals. Indeed the opposite policy should prevail. Europe will need our animals for the restocking of her herds as soon as the war is over. We have immense quantities of pasture and of forage and these should go into young animals, marketed without extreme finish while the war lasts but maintained in full supply for restocking at whatever mo- ment it may cease. THE FARMER MUST HAVE A PROFIT While the farmer like the soldier must do his duty and at a sacrifice if need be, there is one important difference between the two. The soldier has but one duty, to fight. He is being fed and supported from behind. The farmer has two duties : one is to feed the world ; the other is to do his share in supporting the army with adequate supplies and in meeting the expense of the war. This second duty he cannot discharge unless his business pays out as he goes along, for the farmer is not a capitalist. A PROGRAM OF CONSUMPTION To carry out a program of production will require a reasonable program of consumption. If, for example, the housekeeper uses a kind of potato paste as a substitute for butter, she will not only cheat her family of a needful food, but she will by that much help to break down the dairy business, which produces the cheapest of all animal foods. If she reduces milk consumption she will do the same, with nothing gained either in food or in money. If transportation fails to reduce congestion at any point, the markets will become clogged and the resulting low prices will demor- alize product'on. Mr. Hoover must prevent this. If he cannot ship, he will ask us to consume until he can relieve congestion. Therefore FOLLOW HOOVER! When he says "save," we should save; when he says "consume," we should consume. In this way only can production be sustained. This in general is The Illinois Program agreed upon by a recent War Conference at Urbana called by the farmers of Illinois, the State Council of Defense, and the University. The program is recommended to all farmers. It can be had in full by apply- ing to the State Council of Defense, 120 West Adams Street, Chicago.