ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s successive administrations had refused to use a wartime threat to Britain’s food supplies as a reason for aiding agriculture. As Murray writes:1
The decision not to anticipate the outbreak of war in agricultural policy had been accepted by the Committee of Imperial Defence as early as June 1924. In 1926 the Government had announced its decision that no case had been made out on defence grounds which would justify the expenditure necessary to induce farmers in times of peace to produce more than economic considerations dictated.
