British Farm Prices Basic Problem For N.Z.

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 10

British Farm Prices Basic Problem For N.Z.

“I am not unduly pessimistic, but we must be realistic, and the outlook is not too bright for New Zealand if and when Britain joins the Common Market,” said Dr. J. D. Stewart, a farm management expert and well-known Canterbury Rugby football player, when he returned to Christchurch yesterday after more than two years in Britain.

He went to England in 1959, when he was awarded the Shaw Savill centennial scholarship, and gained his doctorate in philosophy at Reading University. Last September, Dr. Stewart toured the E.E.C. countries and met agricultural economists, ministry officials, farm advisers and farmers in Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France and at the E.E.C. headquarters in Brussels.

Until a common agricultural policy was decided, noone could say what would happen, Dr. Stewart said. But his personal view on the kinds of concessions New Zealand was hoping to get was that every concession would be because France “budged an inch or two.” French Surpluses

"And the only reason there is any enthusiasm i i France for Britain is because France sees London as an outlet for her own surplus, and the problem of surpluses

is getting to be acute.” The Dutch saw Britain’s membership as a deal between French agriculture and German industry, he said. German industry was bursting at the seams already, and French agriculture would do so also.’

The Six were already 92 per cent, self-sufficient, and

with the plans for rationalisation of agriculture there must be expanding production.

“But we must also be clear that we will have problems in Britain whether or not it joins the Common Market, as there is substantial structural i uprovement in its own agriculture,” Dr. Stewart continued. “The British farmer is determined that any policy the Government implements does not restrict the expansion programme of the British farming industry. Although it is costing the taxpayer more and more, the British Government seems to abide by the wishes of the farmer, and the guaranteed prices are nowhere near the world prices.” As a result of the good prices the efficiency of the British agricultural industry as well as the physical production was increasing, and particularly so in grassland farming. Dr. Stewart found “With the prices they are getting they can’t go wrong,” he said. “Basically, our major problem is the level of support of subsidised British agriculture, although the problems of Britain’s membership of the Common Market may appear more spectacular.”

Among professional circles in Britain Dr Stewart found an awareness of the problems of the Commonwealth, and a “fairly genuine” feeling of sympathy for New Zealand Dr. Stewart studied under Professor Edgar Thomas, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Reading in Berkshire, and at the end of his two-year scholarship was able to continue at the university for another three months, with financial assistance from Lincoln College. He investigated the use of

computers in the programming of farm management data. This work, he said, had been valuable to his future work in New Zealand. He was pleased to learn that the University of Canterbury had a computer, and hoped to have access to it

The computer would enable a great deal more research in agricultural economics than before. An increasing amount of research work was being done with electronic computers, and the computer would probably be used in a wider field of general research. “We will be able to be a lot more adventurous an<j try things we could not have done by manual methods,” Dr. Stewart said. He added that the computer was not, however, a “brain.” It merely acted as a mathematical agent. While Dr. Stewart and his wife were in Britain they had an addition to their family, and the four young children kept Mrs Stewart busy while her husband was studying and travelling. Dr. Stewart’s Ph.D. was confirmed by the senate of the University of Reading last month. He arrived in New Zealand in the Dominion Monarch at Auckland on Tuesday, reached Ctiristoburch yesterday and will continue his work at Lincoln College from the beginning of next week.