Higher Pay Urged For Agricultural Graduates

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30835, 21 August 1965, Page 17

Higher Pay Urged For Agricultural Graduates

Salaries paid to graduates in the academic agricultural fields of science, research, and extension work should be much higher than those paid to graduates in other professional academic positions, Mr B. H. Palmer said at a meeting of the executive committee of the meat and wool section of North Canterbury Federated Farmers.

It was time academic agricultural positions became the country’s prestige academic professions. Farmers could not expect more direct incentives to help to increase production, he said. However, if more university graduates could be attracted into the academic agricultural field by higher salaries than they could get in other academic positions, the eventual result would be an increase in farm production.

Once the agricultural production increase was achieved, overseas earnings would rise

and better salaries could then be paid to other academic professions. Apart from encouraging better brains Into agricultural fields, Mr Palmer said, higher salaries should prevent the loss of graduates to private companies and overseas Countries. He did not think the country could afford to pay markedly increased salaries to all academic professions, but if those in agricultural fields received a greater rate of pay, the country would benefit. Mr Palmer said he realised there would be objections to his proposal and that the Public Service wage scale was limiting salary increases. Those in charge of Public Service salaries, other academic workers, farmers, and the general public would have to be convinced of the need for higher salaries in the agricultural sphere. The committee decided to gain information on the subject, and held over the matter to its next meeting.