The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1941. A REVOLUTION IN FARMING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 142, 15 August 1941, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1941. A REVOLUTION IN FARMING

Although many of us may not have noticed it, there is a startling' revolution going on in the New Zealand countryside. All branches of the great farming industry are adapting themselves to wartime needs. The question that arises is: Will they change back to the 1939 style of farming? It hardly seems likely any more: than the possibility of going back to 1919 methods, or 1914 or 1900. Wartime conditions ha,ve made its necessary for cheese production to be doubled, with a corresponding, reduction 'in butter output. Will those thousands of farmers '' converted to the cheese faith'" relapse into the ''old style faith of home separation" when hostilities cease? Most people say yes, but it- is unsafe to prophesy in a workl that is witnessing great changes. Will the farmers who have been told to produce porker pigs instead of baconer piigs be told to " about turn '* in a year or two's time? That remains to be seen. There was a new export trade in chilletl beef being worked up in the 1930.' 5, but the convoy system of shipping* has necessitated the order ''As you wejce " to hetrf producers, andt now they must produce the type of cattle suited to the frozen beef trade. Sheepfarmers who have had- an expanding market for lamb and mutton lor a generation or two have been obliged to revise their methods of farming, because wool has become more important than mutton for the duration of the war.

Production on the farms is as great, or greater, than in pre-war clays, notwithstanding the fact that probably 3u third, of the boys now overseas were from the farms. The farming industry is being carried on with much less manpower. How is it being done? As a result of such factors as the greater use of female workers 1 , the pooling of men and machinery,, and the more complete mechanisation of farming. At the same, time some work regarded as desirable or essential on the land in happier years is be;ing left undone because there are not enough men to carry out repairs and maintenance. Another factor in the farm labour situation appears to be the steady extension of the practice of milking dairy herds on shares. "With jingle men or youths becoming scarcer on the farms, so there appears to be an increase in the number of farms where the labour force consists of a family unit working under some sort of sharemilking ciontract. Who knows but that in another generation the farming community may consist of only two sections—landowners and sharemilkers? * Recent changes point that way. The process is assisted when, as often happens, a farm on the market is bought by a nearby successful farmer. This encourages the custom of engaging milkers on quarter or third, shares, with the owner or ius casual employees carrying out seasonal farm work to a greater or lesser degree, thus securing the advantages that go to any Jajge-scale use of men and machines.

Changes in farm production and management may take (pi'.ace so gradually that they escape notice. Not so with the revolution in the marketing of farm produce which we have witnessedi in the last generation. Milestones on this revolutionary road include the setting up of various Produce Boards selected by farmers —this began in the 1920'5: and then there was the controversy of the " Control Pbliqy" as regards dairy produce before the slump of ten years ago. Later came attempts by legislation to impose varying degrees of State supervision over marketing and exports. A Coalition Government in 1935 had one scheme which producers criticised as being too drastic. The next Government put into effect its policy of " Guaranteed Prices." This brought forth much criticism, but it was put into operation. It will probably be extended and, continued because producers are in the minority TDoliticalljv under the system of universal suffrage. So it lis that! $n the sphere of imarketihg produce we have travelled a long way on the Revolutionary road in not so many years.

Another revolution has taken place in the social life of the people on the farms. Less than a generation, ago and —even ten years ago—such amenities as motor cars, radios, electric light,, and power were uncommon on the farms. Now they are essentials. The horse-and-gig days have gone; now even the youth employed on a farm considers it necessary to have a motor vehicle. The kerosene lamp was standard equipment in farm dwellings and farm builds ings not so long- ago. Now country homes are all electric, although not necessarily more pleasant to live in. A noticeable consequence of the popularity of the sharemilking is that many families move from farm to farm at somewhat short intervals. Country school teachers lajnent this fact, which they tell us is not in the best interest's) of the children, who must of necessity have an interrupted school life. By way of contrasts families of the pioneering era did not move around so .much.

And the future? We shall see what the farming revolution will bring about in the 1940's —if we live longenough. Meanwhile we can make guesses. So much depends on what the peoples' electedi representatives do — Sor don't do. After the wax there will be much talk of isettHing soldiers on the land. Practically every acre of fertile land in New Zealand is already occupied. What form wift the farming revolution take in the 1940'5? Shall we see soldiers settled on SOacre dairy farms as was done after 1918? Or shall we see something like the Russian collectiveist farms, with lots of acres, lots of men, tractors, bulldozers, and other mechanical equipment?