FARMING TRENDS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 294, 11 December 1943, Page 8

FARMING TRENDS

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA

CHANGE-OVER TO PAT STOCK

(P 4 ) WELLINGTON, Friday. ••The very high prices for beef ruling in Australia have. tended to put farmers over from dairy arming to fat stock production, said the liign Commissioner for Austraha in Nev. 7paiand Air T G. de L. D Alton, in SS 10-doy. -The clifficulues for the United Kingdom, Sii Han Batterbee, in Masterton that ship ments of butter and meat wew i?.s,vo a ;:;:,i4\'.fS>%|s if the meagre rations there were to be maintained. _„:„,. Mr D'Alton said Australian prim ary production had, with the excel; tion of a few items, been. markedly increased since the beginning ; of tne war. Australia had accepted very heavy new commitments for the supply of foodstuffs, both to Gi eat Britain and the United States the latter for consumption by the Armed Forces. One feature of the food situation which he, personally, felt might be worthy of consideration was tne size of the meat and other rations allotted to the Armed Services. There might be a held for sa\ ing in this direction. , The dominating factor of int. whole food problem was the fertiliser situation. Australia had little more than 60 per cent of her pre-w ai consumption and the pastures were definitely deteriorating. As a consequence, "it was creating a tremendous problem for the post-war years "There are 820,000 in the Armed Forces of Australia to-day," said Mr. D'Alton. About 20,000 men are m the process of being transferred back to agriculture from the Forces, but it seems little use transferring a lot more back if facilities for production—implements and fertilisersarc not available for increased production.