Economic and financial section > Considerations on the present evolution of agricultural protectionism

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countries of the world powerfully contributed to the general fall in prices. But the
influence exercised by the competition of the new countries was predominant.
It was at this period that the first International Agricultural Congress was held in
Paris, in July 1889, with Jules Meline, of the Vosges, as President. He founded the
International Commission of Agriculture, which henceforward organised periodical
international congresses, the solemn assizes of the agricultural world. These congresses
saw the appearance and discussion of ideas which had, and still have, a long road to go;
an international agreement on wheat production, Customs preference for European
agriculture, a European Customs Union.
“ The agricultural crisis ”, said a French speaker at the 1889 congress, “ is a much
more serious matter for us than a successful or an unsuccessful war ”. In many countries,
Parliamentary and other Commissions held enquiries into the state of agriculture.
Effects of the Agricultural Depression.
(1) Industrialisation of Agriculture.
The agricultural depression accelerated the transformation of agriculture. Under
the influence of this tidal wave, countries found themselves obliged to intensify their
production: to produce cheaply you must produce on a large scale. Spurred on by a
ruthless competition, farmers abandoned the traditional routine and followed the general
current by which industrial progress was being swept along. Strenuous efforts were
made to do better. Fallow land disappeared. Processes were perfected; the yield of
cultivated land rose: on some big German estates, it has doubled since the middle of
the century.
Farming was industrialised gradually; the old methods of reaping with a scythe,
threshing with a flail and winnowing by throwing the wheat into the air with a shovel
were abandoned. Mechanical mowers, reapers, threshers and corn drills came into use.
Improved ploughs and iron harrows took the place of the rudimentary instruments
which barely scratched the soil. Agricultural machinery made astonishing progress,
stimulated by the dearness and scarcity of labour, which was absorbed by industry.
For it was mostly after the departure of the labourers that machinery made its appearance
on the farms. Agriculture became closely akin to industry.
The use of chemical fertilisers to rejuvenate old land was intensified and popularised.
Imports of guano, which had grown since the middle of the nineteenth century, fell off,
but were in large measure counterbalanced by the great increase in saltpetre from Chile.
The production of potassium salts rose considerably. The use of phosphates and
phosphated slag led to higher yields.
A scientific technique was brought into rural labour side by side with traditional
experience. Up-to-date farmers were trained by schools of agriculture. Studies begun
in the laboratory were completed on the farm. The big estates gave practical demonstra¬
tions of the theories concerning the nourishment of plants and the improvement of the
soil by means of special fertilisers.
Cross-breeding with superior strains improved the population of the stables and
poultry yards and diminished mortality. Thanks to selection, new varieties of wheat,
potatoes and beetroot suitable to the soil and climate, more prolific than those previously
harvested, led to greater yields. Testing stations and experimental farms enabled the
best seeds to be discovered.
Agricultural exhibitions multiplied, promoted by the State which encouraged the
efforts of farmers and steadily increased its subsidies, while agricultural credit institutions
grew apace.