Farming “Must Be More Profitable”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31579, 17 January 1968, Page 16

Farming “Must Be More Profitable”

If New Zealand is to regain any real prosperity, farming must be made more profitable, says the chairman of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, Ltd (Mr L. D. Cotterill), in the report he will present to the company’s annual meeting next month.

New Zealand farm exports represent nearly 90 per cent of total export income, and complete stability in farm prices is just about Impossible to achieve by “controls,” boards, or commissions, or anyone else, he says. Strikes. Australian drought, and foot-and-mouth disease were only a few of the unpredictable factors experienced in the last 18 months. Mr Cotterill says that devaluation by itself is not the corrective to a high cost structure. It is already clear that devaluation by one country can quickly snowball, with the result that before long the major exporting countries may find themselves in the same relative currency position as they were in before it started.

ing and the frozen meat industries. Many of the costs of farmers are beyond their control. That also applies to a meat freezing company, but there are avenues for savings and the group is making a close examination of its cost structure. Commenting on the two-port loading scheme for the South Island, Mr Cotterill says that it is a scheme which should receive a trial before any judgment is passed on it.

However, difficult though It may be, the cost structure of every industry must be most carefully overhauled and that applies to both the farm-