Agriculture Commission 1923

Century of Endeavour

Agriculture Commission 1923

(c) Roy Johnston 1999

This was one of the very first acts of the new Free State Government; it was set up in November 1922 by Patrick Hogan the Minister, and chaired by James MacNeill. It included initially Sir John Keane, JP Drew (Professor of Agriculture in UCD), RA Butler and M Doyle TD (Farmers' Party), Tom Johnson TD and E Mansfield (Labour Party and Trade Union Congress), Sean Hales TD (nominated by the Government). MJ Heavey was the Secretary.

Subsequently, perhaps as a result of stresses induced by the Civil War, McNeill and Mansfield resigned, and Hales died, so there were further appointments: CM Byrne TD for the Government, M Duffy for the Labour Party and TUC; also George O'Brien and Joseph Johnston, in their capacities as recognised economic experts. The Commission appointed its own Chairman, Professor Drew.

Terms of Reference

'.... to enquire into and report on the causes of the present depression in Agriculture, and to recommend such remedies as will secure for Agriculture, and for Industries subsidiary to it, an assured basis for future expansion and prosperity, with particular reference to :-

(1) The effect of present prices and cost of production, on tillage and employment on the land.
(2) The place of the eleven months' grazing system, and of ranching in Irish Agriculture.
(3) The marketing and transit of Irish Agricultural produce.
(4) The provision of alternative employment in rural districts.
(5) Agricultural Education.
(6) Agricultural Credit.
(7) The new situation created by the proposed repeal of the " Diseases of Animals" Act, 1896, and the opening of the English Markets to Canadian cattle.

In what follows I give the headers and some notes on each, with the text in full where appropriate, eg recommendations, or specifically signed by JJ.

FIRST INTERIM REPORT: Tobacco Growing

This was felt perhaps to be of immediate interest to smallholders, because of the labour-intensity of the crop. Excise, manufacturing interests and consumer acceptance were considered. It was felt that up to 2500 acres might be commercially practicable. The grower should be relieved of all excise restrictions. (Feb 8, 1923)

The Marketing, and Transit, of Irish Agricultural Produce

SECOND INTERIM REPORT: Butter

This report concentrated initially on this commodity in view of the extreme urgency of the situation, and the disastrous state of Irish butter on the British market. They recommended an Irish Government-sponsored Brand, subjected to strict quality control, and regulations governing conditions in the manufacturing premises, with effective implementation and inspection procedures. (May 22, 1923)

THIRD INTERIM REPORT: Eggs

An equally bad situation existed with regard to eggs, despite the best voluntary efforts of some progressive exporters. They proposed that legislation should be introduced as soon as possible giving the Ministry of Agriculture the following powers:

(a) To license all Shippers of Eggs after adequate notice.
(b) Authority to inspect eggs in transit and in Shippers' Stores.
(c) To prohibit under penalties the Sale or Export of Eggs so stale, dirty or badly packed, as to be likely to injure the reputation of Irish Eggs.
(d) To compel the use of standard packing cases and packing material of approved quality.
(e) To compel Shippers and Vendors of Eggs so to mark the packing cases as to indicate the nature of their contents as follows:

Whether the eggs are fresh or preserved.
Whether they are graded or ungraded.
If graded, the grade to be fully specified.

(May 22, 1923)

FOURTH INTERIM REPORT: Agricultural Credit

The Commission leaned heavily on the 1914 Report of the Departmental Committee on Agricultural Credit in Ireland, which had been translated into several foreign languages and was then recognised internationally as an authoritative document. This was of course part of the Horace Plunkett legacy. The key concept was the recognition of the right of access by the smallholder to credit on a co-operative organisational basis.

For the development of co-operative credit societies it was regarded as necessary to draw on the experience of the Irish Agricultural Organisational Society (IAOS) for supervisory experience, and to earmark a proportion of the grant aid given to that body for the provision of education in co-operative principles.

The recommended that the Banks be encouraged to come together to set up a virtual 'Land Mortgage Bank' to take over the aspects of agricultural credit hitherto done by the State. This was the device suggested for overcoming the resistance of the Banks to long-term loans. (Sept 5, 1923)

FIFTH INTERIM REPORT: Licensing of Bulls

It was urgently recommended that steps be taken to improve the breed and to dispense with the services of 'scrub bulls' by an accreditation procedure. (Sept 5 1923)

***

The foregoing interim reports were all rushed out as a matter of urgency, dealing with what were regarded as priority issues. They were signed by all members of the Commission, although Sir John Keane had some reservations about the butter export inspection process.

FINAL REPORTS:-

(Infill to come RJ Sept 9 2000)

MAJORITY REPORT:

It subsequently emerged (see JJ's addendum to the 1926 Prices Tribunal Report, paragraph 50) that this report represented a distillation of the experience of the Department, and an attempt to bring around the new Government to a position of continuity with policies as initiated decades earlier, by Horace Plunkett and the pioneers of the co-operative movement who had influenced the British Government to set it up. Although its content was basically sound, this perception led to some degree of public rejection, which fuelled the subsequent Fianna Fail land policy.

Introduction

Some background statistics are used to indicate that the nature of the crisis is due to the prices received not having kept pace with the cost of inputs. The problems are stated from the angle of the larger commercial farmers, employing labour, and the advantages of deploying labour in the local production of fodder crops, in support of livestock products production as the main revenue-earning activity, are stressed.

Limitations of State Assistance

State funds for agriculture should be dedicated to the promotion of best practice in production and marketing, and the primary vehicle for this is the co-operative movement. They come out against subsidies, grants, bounties, guaranteed prices or any measures of direct assistance, except in pilot, innovative or experimental situations.

Place of Ranching and Eleven Months' System in Irish Agriculture

The role of prime pasture in finishing animals for export is recognised, and this constitutes a market for young animals sold off small farm production units. The suggestion emerges that prime pasture for finishing might be owned co-operatively by the farmers whose livestock it finishes.

The conacre (11-month) system is not analysed critically and the Commission sits on the fence with one equivocal paragraph.

Relief of Local Rates

Local expenditures currently supported by the rates, which the Commission felt should be national charges, are identified as the main roads and the asylums (ie mental hospitals).

Marketing and Transport

The emphasis is on organisation for the market, so as to overcome the stranglehold of the middlemen who buy from the farmers individually, in situations where the farmer lacks bargaining power. The development of small ports is advocated, and the opening up of the Shannon navigation for access to the sea. Rail freight rates are seen as a problem. Large-scale marketing operations for specialised commodities are envisaged as being the role of the co-operative movement.

Live Stock

This is the largest section, paragraphs 53 to 78, and contains most of the key recommendations. There is recognition of the danger of over-dependence on the store cattle trade, and emphasis on the need to develop dairying, with Danish comparisons; the need to record milk yields is recognised, and the considerable difference between the best and the worst noted. The breeding problems presented by the 'dual-purpose' nature of the shorthorn are noted, and there is a call to initiate a breeding programme for beef, using premium bulls. Pigs, sheep, horses and poultry each get only a paragraph.

Dressed Meat Industry

Some submissions had argued that the supply of finished cattle was not regular enough throughout the year to enable meat factories to run continuously. The Commission recognised the seasonality problem, but urged that the factory at Drogheda be re-opened on State initiative, as a strategic decision against the contingency that there might be a block on export of live cattle due to an outbreak of disease. The development of a dressed meat industry should be encouraged to emerge as a result of farmer co-operative initiative, and the system for transporting it to the British market modelled on that which exists for supplying the same market from the Continent.

Co-operative Organization

This section looks quite critically at the way the co-operative movement has developed, and lays down conditions for the continuation of State support for the IAOS, involving Government nominees on the Committee with powers of veto. It is also critical of the age-distribution of the co-op committees, and urges the imposition of retirement rules to invoke new blood. It urges the development of marketing organisations having binding clauses on their suppliers, and the development of proper book-keeping and auditing procedures. Compared to the Continent the weakness of co-operative credit societies is noted. The Commission however regarded 'managers as being born not made' and urged the development of management apprenticeship schemes. (JJ differed with this opinion; see below.) The overall conclusion is that '...co-operation is imperfectly understood and practiced in Ireland'. The general tenor of this section is highly critical of the way that the IAOS had developed subsequent to its early days, and perhaps a hint that Plunkett's initial victory in bringing about the existence of an Irish Department of Agriculture was in fact somewhat Pyrrhic.

(This section, and the earlier one on marketing and transport, seems to reflect best JJ's input to the Commission. RJ Sept 2000)

Education

The neglect of agricultural education is critically addressed; the role of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction is noted appreciatively, and the extension of the latter function called for, with the fact being noted that the existing second-level education system paid no attention to agriculture at all. General and technical should not be in separate watertight compartments. Primary curricula should be adapted to rural needs. Continuation schools fed by several national schools, with evening classes, serviced by groups of mobile specialist teachers, leading to something approximating to an agricultural Group Certificate (to use the current label), are suggested. The County Councils are urged to provide village halls, with libraries and reading rooms, and centres for further education supported by cinema and radio.

(This latter enlightened recommendation never got taken up, as it totally cut across the local hegemony of the Parish Priest and his control of the parish halls, where these existed. Jim Gralton, who tried to develop a co-operative educational hall in Leitrim in the 30s, was run out of the country for his pains. RJ Sept 2000)

The Commission goes on to urge the setting up of State demonstration farms, and centres for agricultural research, associated with the Universities, along the lines of Rothamstead in England. The State demonstration farms could be associated with the university agriculture faculties. The full degree in agriculture should be associated with shorter courses leading to diplomas and certificates. The section concludes by urging the need to educate the urban consumer in the virtues of locally-produced fresh food commodities.

Farm Costings

There had been set up a costings project in 1919 throughout the British Isles, but this had been abolished in Britain in 1921. The results of work by the Irish field-officers was available, but the staff had been run down and there was no-one to analyse it. The raw material was made available to the Commission and they were impressed by it; they urged that the project be renewed.

Alternative Employment in Rural Areas

Peat-bog development, land reclamation and arterial drainage are identified, as well as forestry; the latter in Ireland was down to 1% of the area, compared to 7% in Denmark. They urge that it be taken on board by the Land Commission, in the spirit of the recommendation of the 1908 Report by the Departmental Committee.

Industrial Crops

They urge that the growing of flax for the supply of the Northern mills be revived, with the development of a co-operative organisation of flax growers, and am impartial grading authority. For sugar beet the scale of operations required to support a factory was estimated, and this was also recommended as a project to which organised farmers might direct their attention, provided there were a duty on imported sugar. The use of root crops for alcohol production was discounted.

Conclusion

The Commission did not come around to a set of formal recommendations, but the concluding section is worth quoting in full:

140. In concluding our Final Report we would venture to repeat some of the considerations referred to in the opening pages. The causes of the present agricultural depression in Ireland are partly world-wide and partly local. In so far as they are world-wide no recommendations that we could make would help to remove them, but in so far as they are local it is to be hoped that our labours will not prove to have been altogether in vain. But, even assuming that the State does everything that it can be suggested that it should do, the main work of agricultural recuperation must rest with the individual farmer, whether working singly or organized in co-operation with his fellows.

141. The insistence which we have laid throughout this report on the need of educating and organizing the farming community must not he taken to suggest that nothing has already been done in these respects. On the contrary, the last quarter of a century has witnessed a remarkable awakening of interest in the development of Irish rural economy owing principally to the enterprise and initiative of Sir Horace Plunkett, who in assembling and presiding over the Recess Committee created a turning point in Irish agricultural history.

The Department of Agriculture has established a record of valuable service and useful work, and the Irish co-operative movement has set an example to similar movements in many other countries. Nothing that we have said is intended to belittle the achievements of these bodies, or of the numerous other bodies interested in agricultural development, such, for example, as the Royal Dublin Society, or to suggest that their activities have not been fruitful.

Our recommendations are all in the direction of supplementing rather than of criticizing the work of these organizations. At the same time, we feel that the degree of public assistance necessary for agriculture in the future will be greater than it has been in the past; that the problems of to-day are more complex and more pressing than the problems of yesterday; and that the twentieth century, with the advent of overseas competition of a kind heretofore unprecedented, will prove a difficult and trying time for Ireland's premier industry. The very complexity of the problem involved both emphasizes the urgency and increases the interest of attempting its solution.

142. While we are conscious that we have not explored some of the problems suggested in our very wide terms of reference to the utmost possible limits, we feel that we have not been guilty of neglecting or of overlooking any of the main aspects of the Irish agricultural situation. The very voluminous nature of the evidence has necessarily protracted our discussions, and the fact that two-thirds of our members are also members of the Oireachtas has prevented our meetings from being as frequent or as consecutive as we could have desired.

We have, moreover, been restricted in our discussion by the exclusion from the terms of reference of the question of the relations between employers and employed, without a consideration of which it is extremely difficult to reach any satisfactory conclusion on many of the problems which it was our duty to examine.

143. In concluding our report we wish to place on record our high appreciation of the services of our Secretary Mr MJ Heavey, our Assistant Secretary, Mr W Semple and our Clerical Assistant, Mr TH Nally.

(Signed) JP DREW, Chairman, RA BUTLER, CM BYRNE, MICHAEL DOYLE, JOSEPH JOHNSTON*, J KEANE*, GEORGE O'BRIEN*

MJ Heavey, Secretary; W Semple, Assistant Secretary; 11th April, 1924.

*Subject to notes below.

Notes

NOTE BY SENATOR SIR J0HN KEANE, BART AND MR GEORGE O'BRIEN.

There is one aspect of the compulsory redistribution of land to which, on account of its bearing on farm production, we desire to draw attention. The State has now powers to acquire land for resettlement, and the cheaper it can be acquired the less the risk of the failure of any resettlement scheme. Business prudence and responsibility to the taxpayer would, therefore, counsel acquisition on the best possible terms. At the same time it must not he forgotten that the willingness of occupiers of land to invest capital and effect permanent improvements in their holdings is, to a large extent determined by the security which they feel that they will not be deprived of the fruits of their enterprise and industry by having their land taken from them by process of law, capriciously or at an unfair price. It is, therefore, of importance that, in arriving at the basis upon which prices should be fixed in compulsory sales, regard should be had to the possible bad effects that unfairly low prices might have upon the utilization of the land to its best advantage and in the most profitable way by the existing occupiers. While it is possible, no doubt, to exaggerate the importance of this consideration, it is one to which we feel it is our duty to draw attention, as its neglect would be followed by injurious consequences to the agricultural production of the country.

J KEANE, GEORGE O'BRIEN.

It is noteworthy that JJ took up this point two decades later, in the Seanad, in the debates on the 1938 Land Bill.

NOTE BY MR JOSEPH JOHNSTON: the Training of Co-Operative Managers.

The recommendations contained in the Majority Report appear to me to be incomplete with regard to this important matter. The suitability of a man for the position of manager of a co-operative concern depends not only on his possession of business capacity, but also on the extent to which he is imbued with what may be called the co-operative spirit. Too many co-operative managers have turned out co-operative failures though they possessed the qualities necessary for business success in any other kind of business.

If any scheme is set on foot for the training of candidate managers an important part of such training will be to develop in them a thorough understanding of the principles and ideals of co-operation.

In addition to providing for the educational requirements of the rank and file of co-operative managers, it will he desirable to make special provision for the higher commercial education of those who are marked out for promotion to the staffs of the trading federations, or of the large scale marketing associations, and productive enterprises, the organisation of which on co-operative lines has been recommended elsewhere in the Report. The successful management of such concerns will be more likely to be secured if those responsible for their management, besides possessing, good co-operative character, business capacity, and practical experience, are also men of a high standard of general education, and well vested in the sciences that underlie large scale business management and organisation.

The importance of making adequate provision for the higher commercial education of those who are likely to play a leading part in the higher commercial organisation of the agricultural industry, should be kept in view in any reorganisation of Secondary, Technical and University education that may take place in the future.

Export Tax on Live Cattle: I consider that a good theoretical case can be made out for a small export tax on live cattle in the existing circumstances of the Irish Cattle Industry.

Such a tax ought not to be imposed without the approval and consent of a Vocational Council or other body, genuinely representative of the interests of those engaged as producers in the cattle industry.

Joseph JOHNSTON

***

MINORITY REPORT:

This was produced by the Labour Party members Tom Johnson and Michael Duffy. It embodied several points subsequently taken up by JJ, although JJ stuck with the majority, perhaps for tactical reasons, or from loyalty to Horace Plunkett's legacy. There certainly was some empathy between JJ and Tom Johnson, in that the latter chaired those of JJ's Barrington Lectures which took place during the war of independence and civil war periods in Trinity College, and attracted a Dublin working-class audience.

The cause of the present depression

The minority report defines the depression as general rather than agricultural, and attributes its primary cause to the poverty induced by the war, and the immense burden of debt generated.

The Farmers' present problem

This is defined in terms of input and output prices as seen by the farmers, in 1904, 1914 and 1923. They invoked the needs of the farm labourer, and queried 1914 as the base year of comparison.

Function of the farmer in the National Economy

They query the assumed convergence of the individual with the national interest in this context, identifying the perennial problem that a farmer with low inputs and low outputs can often be better off individually than if he farms intensively with high inputs and high outputs. They therefore argue for maximising tillage.

The stimulus to production

Without indicating how this is to be done, they urge the State to intervene to reconcile the individual interest of the farmer with the common interest of the nation. Patriotic motivation should somehow be harnessed.

The purpose of Agriculture

The purpose of agriculture is to grow food, and they giver some statistics for 1851, 1896 and 1917 which suggest that there is plenty of food for the population, which prompts the question, why are people going hungry?

Food production on a mixed farm

They go on to make the case that a mixed farm with livestock and tillage is the most efficient supplier of food, both to the local and to the export market.

A food budget

They then produce a budget showing how each product is consumed, fed to livestock, used for seed or exported, and identify the key deficiencies as wheat and whole milk, everything else have an exportable surplus.

Supply of whole milk

They call for a doubling of production of whole milk for sale in the towns, with distribution and marketing organised suitably. They identify this as being a highly profitable outlet, and urge its development to the extent of export to Britain.

The Dressed Meat Industry

They reject the argument made by the live cattle exporters that regularity of supply of finished cattle is the key obstacle, and call for the development of dead meat trade by analogy with Denmark.

(Unfortunately they missed out on the arguments underlying seasonality of supply; it is a systems problem, addressed in by JJ in his 1932 SSISI paper, and later by RJ in his 1972 work for Bord Bainne. Calving a due proportion of cows in autumn, stall-feeding in winter, and smoothing the supply of milk, for quality value-added products, are aspects of the necessary revised systemic approach to the problem. RJ Sept 2000)

The Dressed Meat Industry as insurance against embargo

They urge State intervention to build up the dressed meat trade, primarily as an insurance against the live trade being blocked as a result of cattle disease. The funding of this development should be based on a tax on live cattle exports. The existing factory in Drogheda should be re-opened, and the proposed one in Waterford expedited. They emphasise the link with tillage and the overall greater productivity implied by the steps needed to induce continuity of supply (ie winter feeding indoors).

Cost of transport and distribution and its effect on the farmers' expenditure

They reject totally any idea that a reduction in transport workers' wages would have any significant effect. Lower wages means loss of markets for farm produce.

Railway transport charges

The main benefits would come as a result of reorganising the system.

Interest on farmers' capital

They estimate how much revenue is due to farmers as a result of the capital sunk in the land, by comparison it with industrial capital.

Tillage crops for stock feeding

The State should take active steps to encourage tillage for fodder crops, rather than simply depending on educational work among farmers, as the majority report suggests. Policies should distinguish between the needs of subsistence farmers employing family labour and commercial farmers employing labour, and between the needs of local and export markets.

Proposals respecting rates and annuities

They urge that rate remission be used as an incentive to till, and that annuities be replace by a graduated land tax.

Wheat Growing

They urge the continuation of the growing of wheat for strategic reasons, using a guaranteed price as a lever, and the overseeing of the grain import situation by a Grain Board.

Limitation in size of holdings

They urge that the maximum land held by a single owner to be 100, with the option to take up 100 more provided 16% is ploughed.

The Eleven Months' System

This system should be abolished, with the proviso that the Land Commission be empowered to monitor leasing agreements.

Pigs

The cyclical problem is recognised, also the quality problem; they call for a conference to try to work out procedures for stabilising the cycle, perhaps using grain import control, taking into account local feed availability.

Co-operation in marketing

They support the call for co-operative marketing, but urge that it be on a large scale, developing the role of the IAWS.

Interim Reports approved

They stand over their approval of the earlier interim reports, and regret their inability to give enough consideration to questions such as alternative rural employment, industrial crops and agricultural education.

Summary of Recommendations

(1) That the policy of the Ministry should be to encourage home consumption of agricultural products.

(2) That efforts be made to increase the consumption of whole milk.

(3) That special attention should be directed to the possibilities of improving the methods of transportation and distribution of milk with a view to supplying a wider demand.

(4) That the dressed meat industry should he encouraged and that the State should give guarantees to approved schemes; also that a small tax on exports of live cattle be levied to create a fund for the promotion of agriculture and industries subsidiary thereto.

(5) That a special agricultural rate be levied throughout the country to be applied to the relief of rates in the poor and densely populated areas.

(6) That further enquiry be made into the proposal to remit all purchase annuities and substitute therefor a tax on the value of agricultural land minus buildings and improvements, such tax to be graded from a mere nominal sum on poor land tilled to a high figure on good land untilled.

(7) That wheat growing should not be allowed to become obsolete in a wheat consuming country; that a guaranteed price should be paid for limited quantities of home-grown wheat; that millers should be required to blend a proportion of home-grown wheat with imported; that limitations should be placed upon the importation of flour.

(8) That the importation of wheat, flour and maize should be a State monopoly; or, alternately, should be regulated by a Grain Board controlling private enterprise.

(9) That the size of holdings should be limited by law, larger holdings to be allowed where the proportion under tillage is higher.

(10) That the Eleven Months' System should be abolished except in special circumstances, when the Land Commission might be empowered to consent to contracting out of the tenant-right clauses of the Land Acts.

(11) That steps should be taken to stabilize prices of pork, and, to this end, that all sections of the industry should be called into conference; also, that local curing should be encouraged and expert advice given by officials appointed by the Ministry.

(12) That co-operative marketing on a large scale he encouraged and that the farmers, through their organizations, should utilize the existing Agricultural Wholesale Society as part of their business organization.

(18) That the recommendations of the Interim Reports on the Marketing and Transit of Butter and Eggs and the Licensing of Bulls should be given effect to without delay.

(Signed) MICHAEL DUFFY, THOMAS JOHNSON.

April 4, 1924

***

APPENDIX A listed the people who gave submissions. These included the Department of Agriculture, the IAOS, the Farmers Union, millers, merchants, exporters, creamery managers, cattle traders, individual farmers, teachers and instructors, and university people.

APPENDIX B listed the attendances of the commission members. There were 87 meetings of which JJ attended 57.

The INDEX was meticulous and ran to 9 pages of small print.

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