Call On Institute To Lead Farmers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31764, 22 August 1968, Page 7

Call On Institute To Lead Farmers

An appeal to the Institute of Agricultural Science to give a lead to farmers and the public was made on Tuesday by the former Director-General of Agriculture, Mr D. N. R. Webb, speaking at a dinner at the annual conference of the institute.

Outside its own ranks the institute was scarcely known, apart from its occasional forays into the press on the question of the salaries of scientists said Mr Webb. “Is this enough for an Institute numbering among its members the top farm advisory officers in the nation and the top agricultural scientists?”

Mr Webb said that there were many issues in farming on which the institute could give effective voice. Not the least of these was the farmer’s attitude to the application or use of the scientific resources available, the so-called “brain drain”, and the rewards and attractiveness of the farming industry.

“Whenever New Zealand is confronted with an usual circumstance of insect, ani-

mal, pasture or crop, the immediate request is for more research and pressure is applied to have scientific resources beamed on the new problem regardless of the current commitments.

“The consequences of changing course, of laying down arms in one cause to prosecute another of possible less national importance is hardly ever, if ever, a consideration. “Twenty years of solid effort in facial eczema was written off recently in a few condemning words by an industry spokesman. The director of agricultural research made a reply and I attempted to extract a retraction without success.

“Is this a case where the institute should come in? ... on certain issues the institute could use the undoubted strength of its amalgam of knowledge and the stature of its members to attack, in an informed way, uninformed opinion. “With the scientists, consultants and advisory officers and their relatives living under the one roof of the institute, we have an organisation which should have an agreed view on the priorities for the nation’s agricultural research—how the available resources can best be applied to ensure the stability and progress of the farming industry,” said Mr Webb.