Caution Urged

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31221, 19 November 1966, Page 8

Caution Urged

Before committing themselves to furthers development expenditure farmers would need to look very closely at the financial situation in the light of lower prices ruling for primary products to see that the return would justify the further expenditure, the Dominion president of Federated Farmers, Mr P. S. Plummer, said in Christchurch this week.

Where a budget had been based on last year’s wool and lamb prices the present fall of some 25 per cent in lamb prices could put the budget haywire, Mr Plummer said.

He described as unrealistic and “it would do us more harm than good” a suggestion from a Federated Farmers’ group in the North Island that farmers should cut back on production.

Mr Plummer said he thought that several factors were affecting prices for New Zealand farm produce. There was a serious financial situation in Britain, the British Government was encouraging its own farmers to produce and the shortage of meat that had applied generally in Europe now seemed to have disappeared. However, Mr Plummer said he was quite confident that New Zealand would be able to sell the present season’s output of lamb quite well, but they were starting off on a much lower basis. He would not be prepared to predict the course of the market but prices for New Zealand products could come right—he hoped so. In partnership with a son, Mr Plummer farms 800 acres at Waipawa, Hawke’s Bay. They run 2000 Border Leicester cross ewes which are mated with Southdown rams for fat lamb production. They have a Beef Shorthorn stud of 50 breeding cows and they fatten about 100 steers all of the time. They also grow about 50 acres of grain.