RURAL REVIEW

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 2

RURAL REVIEW

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, Dec. 7. Mr D. Lloyd, of Lowcliffe Ashburton, has been appointed to prepare a report summarising informtion available on social changes in rural New Zealand. The chairman of the Agricultural Production Council (the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr Carter) said today that a study of the social factors of fanning was essential for planning for agricultural development.

A number of relevant studies had been made in New Zealand, but the extent and full nature of the social problems which created difficulties for fanners were still not known. “Concern has also been expressed that these problems are symptomatic of wider problems from which the whole fanning industry suffers, such as a com-

plex change in the internal economy, declining farm profitability, "increasingly concentrated urban growth, and declining social services,” said Mr Carter.

As a preliminary exercise, the Agricultural Production Council had decided that a review should be made of all available information.

The review was expected to take about nine months to complete, after which a decision would be made on future work.

Mr Lloyd recently completed a master of arts degree with first-class honours in political science, and tutored part-time for the political science department at the University of Canterbury.

He has a 275-acre mixed sheep and cropping farm in Ashburton. Mrs Lloyd, who is a qualified librarian, will help her husband with his study.