The late Summer of 1946 brought weeks of torrential rain which threatened Ireland's grain harvest. As world food stocks were still depleted after the Second World War, there would be little chance of supplementing any losses with imported grain. The Irish government had brought in a compulsory tillage order which made it mandatory for anyone with land to plant part of it with grain crops. By early September 1946 the situation was grave. One hundred years after the Famine, Irish people were again facing potential hunger.