HIGH COSTS FOR FARMERS

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25607, 23 September 1948, Page 4

HIGH COSTS FOR FARMERS

BIG INCREASES IN MACHINERY PRICES

MANUFACTURERS NOT HELD RESPONSIBLE

(P.A.) DUNEDIN. September 22. When the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) said in the House of Representatives recently that prices for farmers’ produce had risen on an average by 108 per cent, he had presented only one side of the picture. This statement was issued to-day on behalf of the Otago provincial executive of Federated Farmers. It was contended that Mr Nash’s remarks were misleading to the general public, especially those m the cities and towns.

The farming community to-day was in an unenviable position, it was stated. While prices for produce had admittedly increased, farmers’ costs had risen considerably. In 1926 a 15coulter grain, drill, complete with turnin and grass-seed attachments, cost £69. Six years ago the price was £96. Recently it rose to £219, and now it was £234. A double-digger plough, costing between £32 and £4O a few years ago, now cost £125. A four-row ndger had increased in price in recent years from £BO to £l5O 10s. It was emphasised that the increased costs were beyond the control of manufacturers, who. like others, were caught up in the boundless tide of inflation and its attendant factors. The prices of all other farm implements and machinery had also risen in comparison. For instance, a crawler tractor once costing between £5OO and £6OO was now priced at figures between £lOOO and £l4OO. Fencing on farm properties once cost between £BO and £lOO a mile. To-day, if a farmer was fortunate enough to obtain wire, the cost was £5BO a mile. The costs of building and repair work had also increased alarmingly, and in some cases were 40 per cent, higher in the country than in towns. “A farmer must make these high payments from his capital, that is from what he has left after meeting his heavy taxation demands.’’ the statement continues. Such high prices might not seriously affect an established. farmer who was in a sound financial position/but they hit heavily a returned serviceman starting on the land, and also a voung farmer who had not yet The prices were retarding farming, and had disastrous effects in Dreventing men from embarking on primary production as a career.