View On Bacon Import

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32351, 17 July 1970, Page 9

View On Bacon Import

It had been the considered opinion of the pig industry conference in Wellington last week that small imports of bacon would contribute to the stability of the industry, Mr G. S. Meyer, chairman of the Canterbury committee of the New Zealahd Pig Producers’ Council, said this week.

Mr Meyer, who was commenting on the importation of bacon from Canada, said that because of the drought and the premature killing of a large number of porkers in the North Island, there was at present a shortage of bacon in New Zealand.

The imports were required in some areas to keep factories working and outlets supplied. Also, shipping troubles had interrupted the movement of bacon from the South Island to the North Island.

“We are not unduly perturbed,” Mr Meyer said. “We are confident that this is not a long-term policy.” The industry was also quite confident that the imported bacon could not be landed in New Zealand cheaper than it could be bought here, but at present there were not the supplies in New Zealand to be bought.

“We trust, however, that this will not be used as an excuse to raise the retail price of bacon to the public,” he added.

But the news of the imports had caused consternation at the industry meeting because a licence had been granted for the import of the bacon without consultation with the industry and also, he understood, without consultation with the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Carter).

This development, and also the information that the Minister of Agriculture was not prepared to accept a floor price scheme for the industry in its present form, had served to illustrate to the conference just how ineffectual and powerless the industry was to exercise any control over its own affairs, Mr Meyer said. Consequently the council had been authorised to investigate any other avenue that would give the industry more autonomy and of its affairs.

Part and parcel of any re organisation, he said, would be compulsory registration of producers so that an industry organisation could speak as representing the whole industry.

The industry was going to persevere with its present floor price proposals, be said. These envisaged a levy on all pigs killed to build up a fund so that in times of surplus production tfie surplus could be taken over by the council and exported and where the return fell below a certain point previously set it would be subsidised out of the fund. A new universal system of grading would be implemented early in the year, he said. AU pigs would then be graded by intrascope—a device which enabled the outer layer of fat on a carcase to be measured without opening it. It could be done simply and quickly.

The conference, Mr Meyer said, had accepted a Canterbury motion proposing that the name of the Industry organisation be changed from the Pig Producers’ Council to the Pork Producers’ Council.

Mr Meyer said that the pig council was the only producer organisation in the country that was know by the name of the animal that it was concerned with rather than the product—thus the Meat Board was not known as the sheep and beef cattle board.

A remit was also approved urging the Crop Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to develop a higher yielding barley specifically for stock food. The conference also favoured the introduction of an industry journal.