STABILITY BASIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 266, 9 November 1937, Page 8

STABILITY BASIS.

NEED FOR EFFICIENCY.

STANDARDS IX FARMING.

<By Telegraph.—Piirllnmentnrjr Reporter.) WELLINGTON , , this day.

The point that in New Zealand tho anchoring of costs is not the only essential whereby tlie stability of the farmer may bo safeguarded if made -by the Director-General of Agriculture, Mr. A. 11. Coeknyne In the annual report of the Department, presented to Parliament todny. Improvement in the efficiency of tho fnrm, he holds, Is a factor of eqnrtl importance, and such endeavour is likely to lie more effective both nationally and individually than any anchoring or lowering of tho actual costs of goods niul services that the farmer has to buy. "The primary function of tho Department of Agriculture, by regulation, investigation and extension, is to guide Now Zealand farming along those trends ■which will bring an increase in efficiency." states Mr. Cockayne. The report says the average efficiency ef the Dominion's farming is being sorioHsly lowered by the percentage of low-efficiency farms involving high-unit production costs, brought about by a variety of circumstances, snch as low stage of development, insufficient working capital, and non-standardisation of farming methods. The latter factor is largely due to the lack of endeavour devoted in the past to a real study of what should constitute scientific farming under local conditions. There ia an urgent need for standards representing Teal efficiency throughout the whole range of agricultural products.