American Agriculture Now Facing Marketing Problems

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28936, 2 July 1959, Page 12

American Agriculture Now Facing Marketing Problems

(New Zealand Press Association)

PALMERSTON N„ July 1. In America today, as agriculture changed from a business of arts and crafts to one of science and technology, and as agricultural corporations promised greater efficiency of production than the traditional family-size units, it was being appreciated that the United States must use its new knowledge in order to compete both on its own and in overseas markets, said Dr. D. E. Brady, agricultural attache to the United States Embassy at Wellington, in an address to the Massey College sheepfarmers’ conference today. “It is quite apparent that a great, many of our farms are too small to be managed efficiently,” said Dr. Erady. Commercial agriculture had brought to the forefront the need for a corporate structure to facilitate not only the operation, but also the transfer of ownership. The change would not, however, come easily.

“Through our social and political systems, we have been wedded to the family-size farm which has, however, frequently been associated with high-cost operations and inadequate farm income.”

It was appreciated today, more than ever before, that new knowledge must be used to compete

both in home and in overseas markets.

Market development was in itself a subject of considerable complexity. It involved discovering what the consumer needed and then ensuring consumer satisfaction.

“Just as science and technology have shown us how to produce more efficiently, so we must have improved utilisation research to consume more effectively. The use jf newer and more scientific methods in market development is essential if costly mistakes are not to be made.”