Agriculture in the United Kingdom fund the purchase as a mortgage. The Council could not refuse without the Minister of Agriculture's permission. In 1919 the Board of Agriculture and the Ministry of Food were merged to form the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which later became the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF). MAFF was in turn the predecessor of DEFRA. Before the Second World War started, Britain imported 55 million tons of food a year. By the end of 1939, this had dropped to 12 million, and food rationing was introduced at the start of 1940. It did not completely end until July
Credit rationing absence of equilibrium in spite of willing borrowers. In other words, at the prevailing market interest rate, demand exceeds supply, but lenders are not willing to either loan more funds, or raise the interest rate charged, as they are already maximising profits. Credit rationing is not the same phenomenon as the better-known case of food rationing, common in times of war, when shortages lead governments to control the food portions allocated to individuals, who would be willing to pay higher prices for more portions. Credit rationing is not necessarily the result of credit shortages, but rather of asymmetric information. More