On Advisory Services

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30448, 23 May 1964, Page 8

On Advisory Services

Recent comments on farm advisory services by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Talboys) and Mr O. G. Williams, a senior officer of the National Agricultural Advisory Service of the British Ministry of Agriculture who has been seconded to the New Zealand Department of Agriculture, have caused Associate Professor H. E. Garrett, head of the farm management department at Lincoln College, to write to this page from his bed" at Princess Margaret Hospital, Professor Garrett writes:

“Farm as a Whole Approach: This approach to advisory work has been hailed by these two gentlemen as apparently new and worthy of special comment. May I say that tips system of advisory work was introduced at Lincoln College by Professor Flay-30 years ago. It has been carried on ever since by a capable staff in the farm management department. Qver the last 15 years Mr M. B. Cooke and myself have made special efforts along these lines. Resulting from this, we believe,- has been the employment of 20. Lincoln College graduates in Western Australia during the last five years at salaries up to, and over, £3OOO per year.

“English Advisory Services: There is- no doubt that the careful and analytical approach used by the advisory services in England have had outstanding results. It should be remembered, however, that prices are fixed well ahead at the February price review and can move very little in

the medium run from those already established. It is a different story in New Zealand when wool can be 45d per lb this year and 55d the next and lamb 37s 6d this year and 50s the next. Advanced analytical techniques can, at best, be a general guide as far as. New Zealand advisory work is concerned. “Position of New Zealand Advisory Services: Although there has been a substantial improvement in the last two years, conditions of pay are still insufficient to keep top advisory men in this country without personal reason. As far as supply goes this has been insufficient, but with increasing numbers of degree students entering the degree course and taking the farm management option, the outlook is considerably brighter. The supply of diploma students has increased sharply and there is every prospect that a good flow of suitable advisers can now be obtained by way of the diploma of valuation and farm management.

“Advice Available to New Zealand Farmers: It is doubtful whether many New Zealand farmers have suffered from lack of advice. Such department officers as Mr C. P. Whatman in Ashburton, formerly Mr E. G. Smith in Rahgiora and now Mr R. A. Milne, have given sound general advice to hosts of farmers up and down the country. The question of specialist advice, such as is to be found in the intensive scheme of the Department of

Agriculture or the farm Imprbvement clubs, is one which I believe that the country cannot afford on a broad basis. Those desiring intensive advice should pay for it and are more likely to take notice of it when they do so.

“Finally the new look in advisory service is not the ‘whole farm approach’ but the ‘group approach,’ where a number of farmers join together and their adviser finds out the best points of each man and applies them to the Whole.” (I am sure it would be the wish of all readers who have appreciated Professor Garrett’s frequent contributions to these pages in recent years that warmest greetings should be extended to him.— Ag. Editor).