The Press MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1965. Farm Conference Call Is Being Answered

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30896, 1 November 1965, Page 12

The Press MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1965. Farm Conference Call Is Being Answered

Professor K. B. Cumberland seems to have ignored much thorough and far-reaching work to stimulate farm production when he claimed that the call which should have come from the Agricultural Development Conference had faded into an ineffectual whisper. By no means all of the conference recommendations have been executed. Some are still being examined with a view to action. Although Professor Cumberland was probably right in suggesting that most New Zealanders have not been excited by the conference, on the evidence of action so far and on the promise of further developments he was wrong in doubting whether the Government, its departments, and farmers themselves are overlooking the proposals.

Farm loans are exempt from the “ blanket credit “ restrictions ” to which Professor Cumberland appeared to attribute a debilitating influence; and the total of bank and stock firm advances is likely to rise to a record level this year. Trading bank loans to the farming sector rose by more than £2 million during the year ended July 14. At June 30, stock and station agents’ advances to their customers totalled £5O million, or £lO million more than at that date last year. Professor Cumberland said that few recommendations from the conference had been implemented and that basic issues had not been touched. It is true that no action has been taken on the steeply graduated income tax scale and the level at which the maximum tax rate applies—not, in all probability, because of dilatoriness but because of the Government’s, belief that tax relief not related closely to increased output would not induce some farmers to increase their earnings. The Government should be open to persuasion on the point. The level at which the maximum tax rate applies is sufficiently low to suggest that a great many persons, farmers and other producers, would take a fresh look at the possibilities of increasing their net incomes and their living standards

In other ways a great deal has been done to implement the recommendations of the conference. If the latest estimate holds good, sheep numbers have grown since the 1962 base year at a compound rate higher than the 3.5 per cent set by the committee of the conference as the average annual rate of increase. Sheep numbers account for about half of the total rann production in the calculation of the targets. Lower lamb killings last season and the higher advances to farmers support the other evidence that farmers have been enlarging their flocks. The Minister of Agriculture (Mr Taiboys) has issued some encouraging figures on the growth of dairy herds and on the increasing use of fertilisers, for which the transport subsidy recommended by the conference has been available since August. Legislation before Parliament this session included the farm income equalisation scheme recommended by the conference and also the extension to counties of rating postponements for farm land in rural areas. Import controls have been removed from much farm machinery.

The district advisory committees recommended by the conference have been set up in many districts and more are projected. Those now working have already begun the proposed exchange of ideas and information between the industry and the Agricultural Production Council. While much remains to be done at this level, farmers’ conferences and groups have shown considerable interest in the measures to promote production. Last week the farm training scheme was reported to have evoked a lively response from prospective cadets. Inland Revenue officers have been active in meeting farmers to bring taxation incentives to their attention.

Defeatist statements will not encourage those interpreting the conference's plan. If Professor Cumberland overlooked many features of the campaign it may have been because farming is not an industry which can make spectacular changes overnight. Adjustments involve huge investments and must fit existing programmes and accept the limitations of nature. Yet a sense of urgency is desirable. It is now two years since the conference was planned and a year since its committees made their final reports. No doubt should exist about the vigour with which their recommendations must be pursued.