Farm Potential

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30294, 21 November 1963, Page 14

Farm Potential

The layman could be for-1 given if he believed thatj New Zealand’s land was' being farmed to capacity, | or almost so. Much talk in recent years of large increases in flock numbers, wool clips gnd meat exports would make that a reasonable assumption. It must have come as a shock to most people to learn that New Zealand farms could carry 81 per cent more stock than at present. This estimate, made by the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science, is based on district surveys by officers of the Department of Agriculture, and has been checked by separate assessments based on soil types. The estimate by no means sets a limit to the expansion of production that is possible, for it assumes there will be no advance in technology. If a continuation of the technological advance of the post-war years had been assumed, the estimated 81 per cent increase would have been raised considerably for a 10-year or 20year assessment of farm potential. The potential increases vary widely from district to district—from 51 per cent for South Auckland to 410 per cent for Westland. Canterbury’s potential 69 per cent increase is near;

I the bottom of the range, | indicating that the pro- ■ vince’s farmlands, though | still well below their full potential, are not so greatly “ under-farmed ” as those of most other provinces. Much is heard these days of the search for new markets and of New Zealand's ■ difficulties in expanding exports. There is, to be sure, in the world today a spirit of agricultural protectionism, which hurts especially I the efficient primary producer, such as New Zealand. But do we perhaps magnify these obstacles? Are we too ready to accept difficulties as excuses for inaction? Sir Arthur Sims seemed to hint at this when he said in Christchurch: “I look at “ this question as it will be “in 20 years. There will be “many people to feed, and “ New Zealand can feed “ them if she is prepared to “work”. Sir Arthur Sims made a fortune from meat trading long before modern methods of transport, communications, and improved technology had removed many of the uncertainties of trade. If his assessment of the opportunities now open to New Zealand is accepted, the 1960’s should be an era of challenge, not frustration, for producers, traders, and diplomats.