VEGETABLE PRICES AND SUPPLIES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 230, 29 September 1942, Page 2

VEGETABLE PRICES AND SUPPLIES

i/tGETABLE prices and shortages have never exercised the minds of the public to such an extent as to-day. This is due in part to a greater recognition of the food and vitamin value of vegetables, and to the consequent increase in the demand. Added to this is the necessity for supplying our own relatively large army and at the same time providing In some measure for forces in the South Pacific, who can be catered for much more conveniently from this source than from any other. Problems of distribution and cost, the margins between what the producer gets and what the ultimate consumer pays have been ventilated at great length of late, but there is a danger that while this angle is being considered the very much more important matter—at the moment—of what there is and what there will be to distribute is being thrust into the background. So far we have had a poor spring for vegetable growing; rains, cold weather and high winds have combined to retard growth and to delay tne fine tilth which is the essence of market gardening. This is the eleventh hour for the producer, and before it is too late all energies snould be concentrated on encouraging and assisting him to get in the crops which will be so urgently needed as autumn and winter approach A market is certain for everything that can be grown, and it is obvious tnat however heavy the planting may be, it will not be enough either to meet requirements or to depress prices. One production problem is that of labour, that is seasonal and recurrent, but it has been made much more acute to-day by the drafting into the forces of men trained to the craft The .ndustry is essential, both to the army and to civilians, but it has not been declared essential, and the heavy inroads of the army into its manpower will have their own repercussions on the army itself. The problem is national. Every ton of foodstuffs coming down from America for the forces in the South Pacific means a ton less munitions, or a ton less of the general imports which we must have to keep our own munitions effort, small as it is, in going order. Therefore, we cannot now afford to waste time in arguing about what is to happen to the crops when they grow; the present effort must be devoted to getting the seed into the ground while yet there is time. If somebody will get busv on that angle he will be doing a worthwhile job. y g y