Long-Term Finance

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31239, 10 December 1966, Page 10

Long-Term Finance

SPHERE had been a definite tightening up in the availability of long term finance and it was becoming increasingly harder to get, the farm finance sub-committee of the North Canterbury Agricultural Advisory Committee said in answer to a questionnaire from the Agricultural Production Council. The sub-committee said that the usual difficulty in obtaining finance for the purchase of land, stock and plant had been more apparent lately as a result of the general tightening of credit. In most circumstances, the committee said, finance was available for the purchase of capital stock for development purposes, except when the financial position of the applicant did not warrant further advances. No reports had been received of farmers having any

difficulty in obtaining adequate seasonal finance. But farmers who had substantially built up their breeding stock numbers over the last year or so with the aid of short term advances were experiencing difficulty in containing indebtedness at its present level, particularly in the case of hard core indebtedness. The sub-committee said that there was a marked trend in the direction of farmers taking a greater interest in budgetary planning for development work. Were farmers as yet fully aware of the sources of development finance? was one of the questions. The committee replied: Yes, in the main. Those who are not aware now probably never will be. There has been sufficient publicity.