ABSTRACT
Economic power passed out of the hands of the farmers into those of the distributors and financiers, and as a general result the prices to farmers, always uncertain, were forced down and those to the consumers forced up. In 1921 the Corn Production Act was repealed ; this, with other alterations in national policy, including a return to what is called the Gold Standard, caused a general fall in prices both of land itself and its produce and consequently a complete slump in agriculture. The adoption of an anti-agricultural policy was not, however, universally accepted. Immediately after the Government’s reversal of policy, in the early ‘twenties, various individuals and groups began to explore the whole problem ; their aim was to build up a permanent policy for English agriculture. When the war broke out, the Government, which, in its agricultural policy had been hesitating and sitting on the fence for a good many years, took immediate action.
