ABSTRACT
The figures for gross returns to British agriculture published annually must be used with caution, for a particular farming product may be essential but, having no cash realisation value, may not feature in the return. Any changes in relative price, particularly any lowering of costs of imported feedingstuffs, might have the most far reaching effects upon British agriculture-might make it more of a processing industry than ever. In addition to feedingstuffs, fertilisers, seeds and store cattle are an appreciable item in the farmer's costs. The principal artificial fertilisers used in British agriculture are nitrates, superphosphates and potassium compounds, and as far as can be discovered from the inadequate figures available, the British farming community pays about 8 million a year for them.
