Post-War Utilization of Farm-Products

When the fighting forces of the Axis Powers have been completely defeated, the United Nations will be in control of a shattered world, and it is obvious that that world will need to be rebuilt. This affords an opportunity such as humanity has never had before of building a world in which the great advances of modern science can be applied to the development of an organization of human society which will not only be free from war but a world in which mankind can rise to a level of well being and culture higher than that dreamed of by social reformers of past ages.

The increasing tempo and success of our allied military program makes it imperative for us in Canada to give substance as well as thought to our blueprint for industry and agriculture. Industrially we are faced with huge increases in production capacity which, unless correctly channelled, will revert to economically crippling surpluses.

But first and foremost, this is an agricultural country with more than 50% of the population earning their livelihood from the soil and thereby producing more than one-third of the nation's wealth. We shall be faced with the problem of rehabilitating our returning manpower on the land and of making it profitable for them. This may be accomplished by the development of markets for our agricultural products as raw materials, in the form of processed foods, or as finished industrial materials.

Industries based on agricultural raw materials are not new. Many such industries are already in existence as, for example: Vegetable oil crushing, linen manufacture, plywoods and pressed woods, plastics-to mention only a few.

In studying the relationship between our Canadian agricultural and industrial development, I have been impressed with the extremely conservative approach which has been made to the industrial utilization of farm products, particularly insofar as the processing and marketing of foodstuffs for export are concerned. Admittedly, the development of new non-food products from agricultural raw materials is of relatively recent advent, but at no time in our history has the development of new products been more necessary than it is today, for we are confronted with the urgency of reorganizing our country's production in line with its natural productivity and in accordance with the reorganization in world markets which will follow the cessation of hostilities.

The scientific and industrial progress which has been made during the war years has been phenomenal. There is little that can be said in favour of war--nevertheless, it is a fact that war stimulates man's inventive genius to the benefit of science and industry: And the results achieved in these two fields during crises will undoubtedly help to change the course of our future history.

I wonder if, during these trying times with the whole world at war, we fully realize how great a contribution has been made in successfully adapting whole industries, many raw materials, and substitute products to new conditions. When the war is over and the seas again are open to unrestricted commerce, and nations are free to buy the goods they want, we are going to find that many of the things we previously thought essential are no longer necessary nor desirable. New developments will have outmoded and outdated our past living.

As a consequence of the necessity of making this country one of the principal arsenals of the United Nations, many new industries have been developed which depend on agriculture for their raw materials, and it is to be expected that with the greater application of technology to agricultural economics, the coming post-war developments will see agriculture stabilized and expanded in a way comparable to the mechanical and chemical development of industry after the last war.

This wedding of industry and agriculture is not new. Industry has been using farm products in considerable for many years, but, unfortunately, agriculture has been too inactive in the past two decades to maintain a competitive position with synthetic materials of non-agricultural origin.

We are all aware of the prominence which is being given to the question of the nutrition of our war-torn world. The significant part which Canadian agriculture and its food, industries will play in any program designed to feed the starving nations of the world is of paramount importance in the consideration of Canada's post-war policies. Since your club is primarily interested in interEmpire relations, I would stress Canada's position with respect to the realization of "Freedom from Want" in the United Kingdom.

The Atlantic Charter pronounces "Freedom from Want" for all men of all lands. The standard of living for the great majority of mankind is so low that, even if want is interpreted as merely the necessities o f a healthy life, it will take several decades to fulfil that promise.

Planning for "Freedom from Want" is a basic human essential, and it is the first necessity for the establishment of a sounder national life.

Adequate nutrition is of real importance in the United Kingdom where about one-third of the population does not enjoy food and shelter of the standard required for health and, I might add, that in most other countries, the under-nourished and inadequately-housed population is much greater than in the British Isles.

The United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture, and a food plan based on human needs has required that the principal producer nations, namely, the United States and Canada, adjust their food production programs, not merely to feed their own people, but to meet the needs of Britain and in anticipation of supplying the requirements of European countries as soon as they are liberated from the Nazi yoke. This increased food production is not designed to meet trade interests, (though I might suggest that this is the logical time for Canadian food industries to assume their rightful place in world markets), but, rather, the broad aim is to produce what the nations of Europe will require to avoid starvation and further loss of life. This is a complete reversal of the food policy of the 1930's which limited supply to economic demand.

Formerly one of the primary factors causing distress in the marketing of Canadian farm products was the fact that pre-war European agriculture was, to a large extent, adapted for national self-sufficiency as a safeguard against food shortage in war. If the European countries will adopt a food policy based on the nutritional needs of their peoples on the health standard, European agriculture will need to be adjusted to a greatly increased production of milk and other protective foods with a resulting decreased production of certain other foods, especially wheat, sugar and animal products which, in any case, are uneconomical for western Europe from the point of view of world trade.

The importance of ensuring the production of adequate supplies of foodstuffs for Europe is vital both to the afflicted countries and to the producer states of which this country is one of the most important for, if Europe is forced back on an agricultural war policy instead of on to an agricultural nutrition policy, we shall all find ourselves in exactly the same position as in 1938.

Let us consider for a few moments what effect a food nutrition policy would have on the promotion of human welfare and also its effect upon the utilization of farm products.

Accepting the fact that the health of the nation is dependent upon an adequate diet, it follows then, that below a certain income level, as income per head of the family falls, the diet becomes increasingly deficient in vitamins, minerals and proteins because the foods rich in these are relatively expensive. As the diet becomes worse, health and physique deteriorate. In Britain, among the people who are worst fed, the mortality rate is 30 per 1000. Among the people who are adequately fed and housed, the rate is 9 per 1000. The infant mortality rate is over 100 per 1000 among the worst fed groups compared with about 20 per 1000 among the better nourished.

Among the undernourished, stature is three or four inches shorter and physique is worse. Physical disabilities, such as defective sight and hearing and premature senility, are more prevalent. In short, lack of adequate food is correlated with disease, physical disability and premature deaths.

Biologists might make a rough estimate of the additional man-years of life which could be added to the common people of the world if even food only were made available on a health standard. We should save more man-years of life in one decade than we have lost in all the wars in the last one hundred years.

The Inter-Allied Committee on Post War Requirements has just published its first comprehensive estimate of needs of Europe in the immediate post-war period.

The Committee estimates that in the first six months of peace, Europe will require 45,855,000 tons of "foodstuffs, raw materials and articles of prime necessity".

The main bulk of the requirements is made up of foodstuffs, principally grain, although there will be a demand for all types of protein foods. Insofar as wheat is concerned, Canada's immense reservoir of wheat together with the surplus being held by the Argentine and Australia would seem to be an assurance that a Europe liberated in 1944 would not go without food.

If food needs on a health standard are to be met, there will be a great expansion of agriculture. To meet these needs it is estimated that in the United States alone, 40 million more acres of food and feeding stuff crops will need to be grown.

I would like to give you some idea of the percentage increase, as computed in the United States, of the acreage which would be necessary if food requirements are to be met on a more liberal basis.

Using the 1936-1940 acreage as a standard, the following commodities will require the acreage increases which I shall now list for you.

Feed grains- 9% increase
Fruits- 19% "
Beans, peas, etc. - 16% "
Potatoes- 13% "
Truck Crops- 75% "

On the same basis, livestock production would require to be increased considerably. To cite a few examples: Milk cows would have to be increased by nearly 40%; hens for eggs by 23%; hogs by 9%; and beef cattle by 7%.

If food needs are based on health standards, then a reorientation of agriculture and agricultural industries will be required. In Britain, for example, a production of milk, vegetables and some fruit adequate to maintain health standards is so large that some of the land at present producing beef, wheat and sugarbeets, which can all be imported more cheaply than they can be produced, would need to be devoted to dairying, vegetables and fruit-growing, etc. On the other hand, such food-producing nations as Canada would be required to produce wheat, flour, concentrated feeds, concentrated and prepared foods, and vitamin specialties.

An agricultural nutrition policy should provide not only guaranteed market; it should also provide a guaranteed price at a level which will give reasonable remuneration to the land worker.

If the farmer is given reasonably stable conditions he may be trusted to practise good husbandry. Prices agreed upon in advance which show a modest margin and a guaranteed market are the two essentials for stability. Of course, the nation has a right to expect efficiency if it provides stable conditions.

It is furthermore desirable that all food processing industries be concentrated in the producer countries for it is proper, I think, that specialized industrial expansion be associated with agricultural development.

The entire question of the more ample utilization of farm products is also intimately linked up with industrial development. It has been shown that in order for agriculture to reach its highest degree of efficiency that there should be three workers in other industries to one in agriculture.

If we are to produce the food the people of the world need, there will be an era of industrial and agricultural prosperity in Canada. At the end of the war, we might well convert the industrial capacity used for tanks, guns, and mechanized equipment into production media for tractors, cultivators, milling machines and other equipment needed for a world-wide efficient agriculture.

Naturally, the organization of a world food policy would have to be international in character. Each nation would have to set up an organization for its own national needs and, in addition, an international organization would enable nations to co-operate with each other in regulating food production and in developing their industries and trade on a global basis to their mutual advantage. Such a plan would not work, however, unless all the producing countries adopt this co-operative food program.

Provided Canada can maintain her eminence in the food field by producing quantity and quality products and, further, provided that satisfactory multi-lateral arrangements respecting the economies of the export of our farm products can be made, there should be a lucrative market for Canadian products for some years after the war.

I have already alluded to the possibility of expanding our export of prepared foods, particularly of the concentrated type, and I wish to leave with you the thought that our manufacturers have not fully explored the potential export markets for prepared or specialty cereal products, and pre-cooked, dehydrated and preserved foods of all kinds, and I would point out that the potential export market goes far beyond the European sphere of demand for these products.

So far, I have emphasized for food purposes only, and utilization of agricultural raw the use of farm products I would now stress that materials is by no means limited to their use as foodstuffs, for science has transmuted crops into basic commodities of industry. Necessity being the Mother of Invention, industry has been obliged to turn to domestic agricultural raw materials previously obtained elsewhere and, by a combination of science, management and invention, we might well be on the threshold of a period when Canadian agricultural production will find its rightful place in Canadian industry.

In the particular field I have administered during the war period, namely, the production, procurement and distribution of all types of oils and fats, I have been im pressed with the necessity of fostering the closer collaboration between industry and agriculture. Under normal circumstances, we consume in Canada, exclusive of butter, some 450 million pounds of fats annually. Of this quantity, our net imports in peacetime amounted to about 45 per cent of our requirements.

We have had to consider the disappearance from world markets of the fats formerly supplied from the Netherlands East Indies, the Philippines, the Malay States, and other Pacific areas now occupied by Japan. It is now realized that a substantial part of the fat requirements of Britain, the United States, and Canada must be met essential on the North American Continent. In addition, there are heavy demands from Russia and it is anticipated that these demands will increase with the continuation of this conflict.

All these demands must be met by additional hemisphere production, by added imports from areas not under Axis control, by savings in consumption, and as a result of other adjustments.

To meet this situation, both the United States and Canada early in 1942 agreed to increase their oil-bearing crops and the oil-seed production in 1943 was very satisfactory.

Planning for the 1944 crop is now proceeding in the same co-operative spirit in order that the combined production of fats in the two countries may contribute in the most advantageous manner to the supply problem of the United Nations.

We have been interested in obtaining a substantial increase in flax production and expansion of our soya bean crop. In addition, during 1943, the first commercial scale production of sunflower seed and rapeseed "crops was initiated in Canada. At the present time, we are studying the economics of this new type of agriculture to determine whether it might be feasible under post-war conditions.

This is an important development for Canada because this country has not been able to produce any appreciable amounts of edible oils, and it might well mean that we would become self-sufficient in this regard if our production of linseed, soya bean, sunflower seed and rapeseed could be maintained.

Adequate production of flaxseed in Canada is of vital importance not only to this country but to the United Nations. Flaxseed, from which linseed oil is obtained, is the principal oil-bearing crop produceable in Canada. Linseed oil is primarily a paint oil or protective coating oil since it is one of the basic raw material's in the manufacture of paints, enamels, varnishes and all other protective coatings. Linseed oil, therefore, is absolutely essential to preserve and prolong the life of military equipment. Every ship, every tank, every plane, every piece of ammunition, large or small, must have a suitable protective coating manufactured from this oil.

Prior to the war, other oils in addition to linseed, were used by the paint industry. These oils were obtained from China and Manchuria and are, therefore, unavailable today.

The principal value of these imported oils was their ability to impart rapid drying to a paint product. When our supplies of these Oriental oils were cut off, we immediately set to work to improve our own linseed oil. The results have been phenomenally successful for new processes have revolutionized its uses and today processed linseed oil is replacing tung oil, previously obtained from China, for the manufacture of all the rapid drying finishes.

But these uses for linseed oil do not stop in the paint field. The oil is used extensively for the manufacture of insulating compositions, plastics, and linseed meal which is a by-product of the oil industry and is a valuable feed for livestock possessing many of the same intrinsic properties as soya bean meal. Efforts to manufacture a shortening from linseed oil give promise of final success.

The introduction and development of new crops will take time-how much time it is impossible to tell. However, whatever the length of time, it must be measured from the beginning and the time to start is now. To make such crops more attractive to the farmer, a program of the industrial utilization of by-products must be explored to the fullest possible extent.

The problem of using some of the billion bushel wheat surplus for industrial purposes has also been attacked, and I believe that, here again, we have developed permanent processing industries which will utilize Canadian wheat as a raw material.

Prior to the war, Japan took considerable quantities of low-grade Canadian wheat flour which she processed by a so-called "secret" method to produce a flavouring compound which was marketed and shipped all over the world. This flavouring compound was used in Europe and the Americas to produce a meaty flavour in soups, sauces, biscuits and meat-like concentrates. The Japanese process is no longer secret-the product produced is known as "sodium glutemate" and it is made from gluten for which Canadian wheat is renowned. Today, we are beginning to realize that by shipping our flour to to East and remaining content to be primary producers only, we were losing a very lucrative trade.

The industrial utilization of wheat naturally involves the production of wheat starch-a product which has really deserved more attention than it has previously received. Wheat starch has all the good properties of corn starch, and many experts believe it is even more adaptable and useful than its competitor.

The starch picture in Canada today is not to bright for in pre-war times we received very considerable imports of tapioca starch from the Pacific areas, and even our own corn starch industry is partially dependent for its existence on imports of corn from the United States.

In the very near future, we shall see established in Canada a wheat starch and gluten industry which will use considerable quantities of Canadian surplus wheat as its raw material, and Canadian wheat starch will be used in a multitude of domestic industries. Canada should have little difficulty in establishing and maintaining this industry. The important and valuable by-product of "sodium glutemate" derived from the gluten will, unquestionably, be the determining factor, and it is well established that Canadian wheat is richer in this component than any wheat produced anywhere else in the world.

Natural science has a multitude of doors waiting to be opened-of new rooms beyond those doors filled with riches to reward those who have faith in the quest. Such faith is grounded in the utilization of natural processes to the maximum extent, and in applying the knowledge we thus gain to the guidance, channelling and amplification of the natural processes for the creation of benefits to mankind.

One of the most exciting quests of recent years reached its final stages within the past year. I speak now of the amazing transformation of milk casein into a fibre of textile utility. The product produced is surprisingly similar to wool, and it of the utmost importance to the future of the entire textile field. This new product is the lowest priced protein fibre now available, and I shall pass out a few small samples of cloth containing varying percentages of this new material. It is warm, soft, resilent and will drape well. It can be added to rayon and cotton to improve the adaptability of these textiles.

Most of the important uses of this fire made from milk have been for women's dress fabrics, shirtings, sweaters, men's hosiery, etc. I wonder how many of you gathered here today are actually wearing some article of clothing manufactured from "Aralac"--the most modern of our man-made fibres. I understand that in many plants of the United States, over ten million yards of fabric are manufactured monthly which contain a verying percentage of "Aralac" fibre. The production of this fibre has progressed so rapidly that materials used in several millions of garments are purported to contain different percentages of the synthetic wool fibre. Advancement in the manufacture of the synthetic wool fibres is by no means completed, and scientists are today confident that they can produce synthetic wool from raw materials which will be cheaper than milk casein.

Considerable progress has been made along the lines of separating the proteins from soya beans, peanuts, and linseed. From oil-free meal of these vegetable products, a high-grade, low-cost vegetable protein of great purity may be obtained. Material of this type would be least subject to post-war competition and, provided we could produce the raw materials economically and operate the industrial protein extraction with a high degree of efficiency, we would possess an export market for the protein material as well as the finished product manufactured therefrom. I would look for a very large expansion in the production and use of the so-called "Prolon" fibres for these appear to have great possibilities in the postwar textile picture. The field of synthetic fibres is immense, and the initial products have already passed the rigid requirements of the textile trade, and it is to be expected that low-priced, large-volume production will enable a substantial percentage of the world's population to be better clothed.

Before leaving the discussion of the industrial use of proteins, I would like to refer to an industry which comes under the purview of the Administration of which I have charge. I speak of the paint or protective coating industry. Some twenty years ago, the more adventurous manufacturers endeavoured to produce a protective coating of a so-called casein emulsion type. The wearing properties and decorative effects of these paints were not entirely satisfactory in the initial stages of their development. Dut to the shortage of oil during the war, considerable advancement has been made in the production of superior types of casein paints. The word "Casein" here is actually a misnomer for, in the majority of cases, the casein is actually vegetable protein usually derived from soya beans.

There are today many types of the most beautiful interior finishes which are a combination of synthetic resins and soya protein, and I fully expect that these will find increasing usage for indoor decoration in the postwar period. These vegetable proteins have many other applications. They are used in the manufacture of glues and adhesives, some of which enter into the plywood industry; in the manufacture of many types of plastics such as sizings; in the pharmaceutical field; and in industrial uses too numerous to mention.

I have tried to emphasize today some of the plans and projects based on the idea of transmuting crops into edible and inedible commodities and into basic commodities of industry. The concept is a massive one! It is based on knitting a closer relationship between agriculture and industry.

If agriculture's post-war period takes its pattern from previous wars and varies only as the severity and duration of this war varies with others, then the years ahead are not very bright. Though those who say that farming always survives I would agree, but hasten to add that each war has taken a heavy toll of farmers who did not survive.

Because of our fertile soil, favourable climate and extensive use of labour-saving machines, our wheat farmer can produce a bushel of wheat with a smaller expenditure of physical exertion than the farmer of any other country. Livestock production costs in terms of labour have been reduced through our increased knowledge of livestock rations. We are actually using less feed and labour to produce 100 pounds of beef or pork than ever before in history. Our production practices are more efficient than those used in most other countries.

The prosperity of a nation depends upon the production and distribution of goods. If a large volume is produced and distributed, nearly everyone is prosperous. If factories and farmers are working at only partial capacity, transportation systems and distribution agencies cannot be fully employed. Under such conditions, some men are idle all of the time, or all the men are idle some of the time. These are the conditions existing during depression periods.

The obvious solution of the dilemma is to find new markets for farm products. It matters little whether these are home markets or foreign markets. If the consumption of farm products could be increased by 10% by increased dietary standards, the cycle would be that much improved.

Another method of increasing the demand for raw materials is to find new uses for them. So far as farmers are concerned, it is not very material whether new uses are discovered for crops which may be grown in place of those with which we are all familiar. The essential thing is that there should be an effective demand which will encourage farmers to utilize their land, livestock and equipment to a high point of efficiency. This is the economic method by which their income and the national income can be simultaneously increased.

In closing, I wish to repeat that prosperity comes from production. Canada is prosperous when all are fully employed at productive labour, and the products of labour exchanged on an equitable basis. By the integration of agriculture and industry through the development of new uses for our crops, we may be able to utilize in the future the resources of the country and keep our labour fully employed. But to accomplish this result, the Canadian people must bring to the development of agriculture and industry the same courage and determination which our forbears displayed in building the railways, breaking new land and hewing the forests. The success of the future development depends on the individual initiative and courage of every citizen of this Dominion.