Subsidy Plea By Dairy Farmer

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31981, 7 May 1969, Page 32

Subsidy Plea By Dairy Farmer

(New Zealand Press Association)

HAMILTON, May 6.

“New Zealand is in a tough spot,” said the chairman of Waikato Federated Farmers dairy section (Mr J. Kneebone) in his address to the annual conference of the section in Hamilton today.

“As a relatively young dairy farmer with a deteriorating equity, if I were sold up under auction today I would go bankrupt,” he said, stressing the serious economic position of the dairy industry. “Never before have we faced on both the marketing and the political front such serious threats to our future. Every dairy produce market in the world is saturated—and is likely to be for several years by surpluses dumped on world markets by countries with treasuries more substantial than our own.” Diversification on dairy farms had very limited application, Mr Kneebone said, because the average farmer did not have the labour, plant and mortgage commitments to deviate from specialised dairy enterprises. “Rearing beef animals is definitely in the national interests, but it is unfortunately, only of doubtful financial advantage to dairy farmers.”

Mr Kneebone said that, like diversification, amalgamation of holdings had very real advantages. “Efficiency can be improved, but the necessary finance just does not exist in New Zealand today,” he declared.

Speaking of subsidies, he said that it was necessary for the general public and farmers alike to realise that the dairy industry was a source of income and that in the present situation some form of national assistance was needed.