The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1952. Australian Food Production

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26659, 19 February 1952, Page 6

The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1952. Australian Food Production

The serious butter shortage in New South Wales is only another piece of evidence of the failure of Australian food production to keep pace with the growth of population. There are 20 per cent, more people in Australia than there were before the war; but production has increased by less than 8 per cent., so that Australians are now beginning to worry whether their exportable surpluses (which help to pay for essential imports) will not turn into permanent domestic shortages. This is an Australian problem; but it has international importance in < a hungry world, and it has particular importance for New Zealand, where some of the tendencies developing in Australia have also been noticed. Australia’s decline as one of the great larders of the world is shown in the following table of exports:

This drop has not been caused by droughts and bush fires. Nor has it occurred simply because population has increased from 7,000,000 to 8,500,000. There are two more important factors. One can be seen in the following comparison of the employment of labour:

The other factor is the disparity, between high wool prices and the prices for dood products, which has attracted many farmers to the production of wool. For wool they get world parity; for food something less than world parity. This, on a grand scale, illustrates one of the fundamental difficulties of price control. Unless all prices are controlled, productive resources are diverted from the controlled lines, which are usually the ’most important Price control has produced some curious results in Australia. According to the “ Sydney Morning “ Herald ”. while it cost 16.7 d per lb to produce meat in New South Wales, the growers were allowed an average price of only 10.15 d. Much of Australia’s wealth has come from wheat exports; but there are 10,000 fewer farms growing wheat now than there were before the war. Last year Australian wheatgrowers received 7s lOd a bushel for wheat for home consumption compared with the export price of 16s Id under the International Wheat Agreement and 20s for wheat sold outside the agreement. The domestic price of wheat in Canada was 16s Id, in Britain 18s Ifd, and in the United States 21s 6d. Incidentally, the Australian wheatgrowers have £28,000,000 in a stabilisation fund. While Australian food production has failed to keep up with population, consumption per capita has increased. Mr Colin Clark, the economist, who recently resigned from the Queensland public service so that he would be free to give his opinions on the present situation to the people of Australia, pointed out recently that American workers, although their wages were twice as high, ate only about half as much butter and meat as Australians. “ We have over-developed manufac- “ turing industries and tried to keep “food prices artificially low”, Mr Clark commented. ”.. . Food prices “must go up and encourage more “production and less consumption, “and these objectives will not be “obtained if industrial wages—and “industrial profits—rise with every “rise in the price of food. ... It is “ absurd to say that Australians “ have an inherent right to go on “eating in the style to which they “ have become accustomed, when “ their country, and indeed the “whole world, is short of food”. The measures Mr Clark favours for balancing Australia’s economy may not be the only ones or the best ones, but it is certain that much of the post-war thinking in Australia will have to be revised. Stabilisation and price control must not be allowed to work so as to defeat their purpose, taxation must not be allowed to discourage food production, and positive measures are necessary to ensure the best use of the land. New Zealand’s position is rather different. The dairy industry, for instance, is much more efficient and soundly based, with an average cow production of 2701 b of butterfat compared with the Australian average of 1501 b. Nevertheless, New Zealand cannot afford to ignore the warning of what happens when primary industry is neglected and when policies encourage a nation to eat more and produce less.

1039 Tons 1951 Tons Beef .. . .. 121,600 67,900 Mutton) Lamb ) .. 82,300 24,200 Pork .. .. 14,400 7,400 Butter .. 102,500 55,000 Bushels Bushels ■■ 000,000 000,000 Wheat .. 98 80

1939 1951 Farms .. 520,000 450,000 Factories .. 542,000 889,000