Production council proves worth

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32879, 30 March 1972, Page 8

Production council proves worth

Fanners have reason to be grateful for the existence of the Agricultural Production Council, according to Mr C. H. Terry, director of the external economic policy and land use division of Treasury.

"It seems fashionable at present for certain parts of the press to ’knock’ the National Development Council and its sector councils and for some farmer groups to be critical of the Agricultural Production Council,” he said, speaking at a seminar at Lincoln College last weekend. “To these I would like to say this: that without the Agricultural Production Council farmers would never have got the stock retention grant at all and I make this judgment as one who was intimately associated with the conception and gestation of the proposal. . . . "There is no denying the fact that the opportunity afforded by the Agricultural Production Council machinery for the representatives of the farming industry, the producer boards and the Government departments to get together and thrash out the problem in this way was of the utmost value to all concerned. “At times the debate got very heated and there were attempts to bulldoze the views of one group through and to divide the organisation by lining up the industry representatives on the one hand and the. Government representatives on the other. Had they succeeded these moves would have been counter-productive, since a split decision is not likely to carry the same weight with the Government as a unanimous one. In the event good sense prevailed and all members of the Agricultural Production Council were able to arrive at a consensus and recommend that the Government adopt the stock retention scheme. “A unanimous recommendation from such a body as this, presided over by the Minister of Agriculture and including all the important industry groups and interested Government departments, must carry a lot of weight. “I would venture to suggest that no farm lobby,

no matter how well organised or financed, could be more persuasive.” Mr B. H. Palmer, chairman of the meat and wool section of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, suggested that there could be dangers in the placing of some organisation between Federated Farmers and the producer boards on one hand and the Government. However, Mr Terry said that Federated Farmers had a role both within and outside the production council. There was still a role for Federated Farmers, the boards and the Government to work together at different levels to reach a more informed decision.