On The Land.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LIII, Issue 8686, 13 September 1924, Page 2

On The Land.

WHERE FARMING PAYS AND WHY

Tin* fallowing aoojunit of an English expert's investigations of I lie dairying industry in Denmark is published firm the office <f The Agricultural Gazette and Modern Farming, London ; - 'fhe organisation of agrieulture is of first importance to the tanner. This is true whatever the nature <d his business and whatever the size cf his holding, though perhaps the need for efficiency in marketing methods is more obvious in the case of the smaller farmer- It is claimed for co-operation that it is the natural ami only efficient means widen fanners can employ to reach the consuming public, and the experience of nearly every country in the world may be cited in confirmation of the truth <d this assertion. Cc-operation for credit facilities, and the purchase of requirements, for the insurance of live stock, for the good of stud stock stock and for the manufacture and salt* of produce is probably (he biggest single factor in tin* organisation cf agriculture. In England this form of organisation manifests itself in one or two- directions only, and in these very generally, the commonest form being trading societies which an* fairly widely distributed, general in surance. live-stock insurance in the form of pig and cow clubs, and a few societies for (lie hire of stud stock, some of them initiated by

farmers and others under the Ministry of Agriculture’s Live-stock Improvement SchemeOther forms of co-operative organisation are for the most part conspicuously absent in this country, and this is notably manifest in connection with co-operative credit and co-operative manufacture - and sale. As regards credit, the British joint stock banking system and tire comparative smallness of the smallholder class in the agricultural community operate to render farmers’ organisations to 1 obtain advances of cash less necessary here ‘ban in many other countries ; but ihere is nothing in the circum- , stances of British agriculture to minimise the advantages which would accrue to it from the adoption cf co-operative methods in . manufacture' and sale. At the same time the failure cf the industry to recognise the importance of this method for the disposal of produce can be explained, though possibly not_ justified. England is to a large extent 1 the market for the world's surplus food production, and the foreigner catering for it is compelled to adopt some means for bulking bis (Koduce in order to reach it. The Danish producer of a. few pounds cf butter daily, or cf a few dozen . pins in the year, cannot be his own exporter ic the English market, and 1 1 e is driven to combine with Ins neighbours and fov bulk his produce with theirs. This results in the setting-up cf a selling organisation, and the next step is obv:ous- ].' to set up a manufacturing organisation, which will take milk and convert it into butter, and which will take pigs and convert them into bacon, with aU the attendant advantages of cheaper manufacture and products more unifr rraly good. The English farmer is surrounded with a network cf marketing machinery—a dozen dealers or auctioneers will buy his stock; the grocer whe calls at his farm will take bis eggs and butter, a multitude of corn-merchants will give him a price for his wheat ; and all those people in turn find dozens cf others to whom thev can pass on these various commodities cn their way to reducing the insatiable demand of the British industrial consumers The fact that facilities for sale are almost innumerable makes it correspondingly difficult for the farmer to realise the need for co-op-erative effort, but it dees not cbvi- J ate that need. Then' are tea many men engaged in passing cn his products, and the toll they take for their services if often disproportionate to the value of their.. Moreover, tin 1 individual farmer is frequently not in a position to inform himself adequately of the reeds of the market, cr of the values current in different places at the time of sale. A co-operative organisation would rent* ve all of these difficulties. given efficient management able to meet the merchant or dealer on his own ground, and to eoual him or boat him at his own job. Thus, it mav b? stated that the difficulty of organising co-operation is greater in this ,onntnr titan in those producing- either mainly or largo l for export. Bur the ne«‘d for >t is m less in England titan in those countries. Probably nowhere in Europe can a better example be found of the bene-

o 1 fit - accruing to- the agricultural industry from co-operation, and whilst the special circumstances of Denmark must, always bo considered in connection with what has been mpiished, and the difficulties which our own circumstances impose must never be overbaked, tlese wishing to intn duce better business methods into the English agricultural industry will be well repaid bv a study < f what I Vmnark has accomplished.