utilised every acre of soil to help keep the nation from starvation". Churchill was dissatisfied with the current agriculture minister, Reginald Dorman-Smith, who was very close to the farmers' lobby, and replaced him with Hudson, who was an advocate of a "scientific" approach to agriculture. Hudson favored using the latest scientific methods to improve agricultural productivity with no regard for traditional farming methods, an approach that Dorman-Smith was opposed to. Hudson, besides for his advocacy of a "scientific" approach, also favored a "nutritional" approach under enough food which would be produced to supply essential nutritionals, a plan that Dorman-Smith was opposed. Dorman-Smith had once been the president of the National Farmers Union, and in common with many British farmers resented the idea of university-educated experts telling farmers how to best manage their farms. Dorman-Smith disliked the "nutritional" approach, saying "once we fall into the nutritional trap, we are trapped". For an example, Dorman-Smith was opposed to pasteurised milk under the grounds that British people had drank unpateurised milk for thousands of years, and he saw no reason for any change.In the winter of 1939-1940, Dorman-Smith had "different conclusions" about agriculture with Winston Churchill, who was serving as the First Lord of Admiralty, and upon becoming prime minister on 10 May 1940, Churchill sacked Dorman-Smith on 14 May. Hudson's career had benefitted from his friendship with Robert Boothby who had once served as Churchill's parliamentary secretary and who recommended him as Agriculture minister to Churchill. A major problem for Britain in World War Two was the number of British people vastly exceeded the agricultural capacity of British farms, which thus required Britain to import food to prevent a famine. In 1938, 70% of all the food consumed in Britain came from abroad while only 30% of the food came from British farms. A major aim for Germany in the Second World just as in the First World War was to have the U-boats sink enough shipping to cut off Britain and induce a famine that would force the British to sue for peace. On 28 June 1940, a Scientific Committee appointed by Hudson recommended "a basal diet" as the "foundation of food policy" in view of the possibility of an U-boat-caused famine. The Committee advised that a diet of 2, 000 calories per day for every British person would be sufficient to keep the population alive and allow war production to