Edition Bobbett1. Texts by Elizabeth F. Bobbett: 1.1.3. Correspondence, Letters to newspapers
1947 Elizabeth Bobbett: Letter to the Irish Independent, 08.03.1947
Farming Outlook1
Sir. 1847 was regarded as “Black 47" when the potato crop failed in Ireland. This year, 1947, has been hailed as "White ’47," because we are experiencing the worst snow storm and the longest period of hard frost for over half a century. Owing to the blizzard which swept the country the Annual Convention of the Irish Farmers' Federation, fixed for 26th February, had to be postponed, and I have been asked by several of our Executive members to issue a note of warning on the serious position of our food supply for 1947/48.
At the present moment, with five weeks' snow still covering a very large area of the country, it would be impossible to even make a rough estimate of the losses in livestock alone that the farmers will suffer. Sheep will be dead in their thousands, and hundreds of ewes wintered on the lowland pastures, even though some may have got a share of handfeeding during the snow will be so weak that the losses at lambing will be heavy. Cattle are dying in many districts through lack of fodder and lack of water, all water supplies being frozen over and in places covered with deep snow drifts. We all know that the continued wet weather since last harvest delayed ploughing of land during the winter. and very little had been ploughed up to mid-January except in very dry districts. Now when sowing time is at hand, we have the whole winter and spring’s work to overtake in a few weeks, truly an impossibility.
Many of us believe that the potato crop will be our main source of food goodly for the next twelve months; but it is an expensive crop to grow, and we urge the Minister for Agriculture seriously to consider the position and give a subsidy of £10 per acre on all potatoes grown, as is given to the farmers in Northern Ireland, and therefore ensure a sufficiency of food for the population.
The planting of potatoes enjoys a far longer period than any other crop, so our advice to the farmers of Ireland (who have never failed to do their duty to the nation) is: grow more spuds and save the Nation.
In conclusion, we advise everyone who has a garden or can get an allotment to grow the maximum of vegetables this year and cut out flower-growing – you cannot eat them. The outlook was never more serious.
Elizabeth Bobbett, General Secretary; Irish Farmers’ Federation, Wicklow.
1 - The same letter was published in the Irish Times, 02.03.1947.