Concern About Pig Meat Imports

Press, Issue 32345, 10 July 1970, Page 5

Concern About Pig Meat Imports

(N.Z. Press Association! WELLINGTON, July 10. Pig producers today urged the Pig Producers Council to ask the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Carter) why the council had not been consulted about the , importation of pig meat i from Canada. ! They also took action aimed at strengthening their central organisation. The annual conference recommended that the council give priority to an investigation of alternative organisational structures that would give the national body greater authority and autonomy in future. The discussion on the resolution was taken in committee. But it was undoubtedly sparked off by the news that a large consignment of bacon is on the way to New Zealand from Canada, and the fact that the Government has not yet agreed to the industry’s minimum floor price scheme. South Island delegates said after the conference that there was a surplus of pig meat in the South Island. But the Government had apparently given permits for the Canadian bacon to be imported because there was a shortage in the North Island. The minimum floor price j scheme is designed to {stabilise the price to the producer, and prevent the fluctuations in the supply of pig

meat which have occurred in the past. The conference moved that the scheme be pursued and clarified. It also asked the council to give immediate consideration to implementing a compulsory system of registration for all pig producers. Several delegates said the council had . difficulty in a obtaining authentic estimates r lpf pig numbers in New Zealand when all producers were e not required to register. |