Assisting the Minister of Agriculture

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33650, 27 September 1974, Page 8

Assisting the Minister of Agriculture

Although the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (Mr Moyle) represents an area of the country far from Canterbury , his right-hand man as his Under-Secretary since April last ye«'has been to all intents and purposes a Canterbury man.

Mr B. G. (Bruce) Barclay was bom and brought up in Northland but he has worked and farmed in Canterbury for so long that by now he might well have been Canterbury bom and bred. As well as being undersecretary for agriculture, fisheries, forests and science, with the Government reshuffle following the death of Mr Kirk he has • now also become undersecretary’ to the Minister of Lands and Mr Rata has asked him to look after the important areas of land development and settlement. Mr Barclay’s views on matters pertaining to farming, because he has been close to farming for so long, would be acceptable to the great majority of farmers of all political persuasions, but where there might be i some differences of opinion is in the methods of carrying out some of these ! generally desirable objectives. Mr Barclay has the advantage of a farming background. His father, who was born on Banks Peninsula. managed a property in North Auckland for Christchurch interests and then ; farmed a part of it both before and after World War ; I, in which he served. Bruce was bom while his father was farming and when his father retired and entered politics Bruce went to Whangarei High School, which has among its old boys also the former Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Sir John Marshall. Mr Barclay’s father, of course, was Minister of Lands and Agriculture between 1940 and 1943, and Bruce recalls that at that time, with his own personal . experience of settlement after the earlier war — he had sold out before going to the war and then had to buy back again at an inflated price — he introduced the land sales control legislation believing that control of the prices of land was the first step in land settlement. However, his defeat in 1943 did not allow him to develop these policies further. While in the Government 1 service from 1941 for 10 i years Mr Bruce Barclay : was an instructor in agri- : culture with the then De- \ partment of Agriculture in j Timaru. serving under one I of the great old masters of farmer guidance and inspiri ation at a time when a revolution in farming was just beginning to take place, Mr W. C, Stafford, and then for two years he was with the Valuation Department in Timaru working between the Ash- : burton and Waitaki rivers. At that stage he took up a town milk supply farm of about 50 acres at Halswell, which he still owns, but admits that he sees little of it. This association led him subsequently to become a director and deputy chairj man of Canterbury Dairy . Farmers. Ltd. from the | board of which he had to i retire last year when he I took on his present respon- ; sibilities. Mr Barclay looks on the title of “Under-secretary”

as being something of a misnomer. He says that his role is more of an assistant minister. He has all the powers to sign on behalf of the Minister. But he does not attend Cabinet meetings unless requested to do so and does not guide legislation through Parliament. However, whether an Undersecretary should be able to answer questions in the House is now being studied. There are 67 statutory bodies and committees operating in the agricultural sector. Mr Moyle and Mr Barclay try not to go along and talk to these type of groups two years running, but Mr Moyle of course retains the prerogative of dealing with such major groups as the Dairy Board and Federated Farmers, but sometimes Mr Barclay sits in on discussions between the Minister and such groups so that he knows what is going on. In his special relationship with Mr Moyle Mr Barclay has responsibility for a number of industries that are under the agriculture umbrella — pigs, poultry, beekeeping, apples and pears, citrus fruit and berryfruit, vegetable and produce, viticulture, town milk and pasture pest control. Although his work in these areas often does not get a great deal of publicity, he says “in each of these I have got something going” and gets some satisfaction in being able to report some worthwhile progress. In the pig industry sector, he says for instance, that he has been responsible for legislation that Mr Moyle will introduce into Parliament which will set up an industry council separate from the Dairy Board. And seeing the pig industry of the future based increasingly on grain production, he is also involved in investigating means of ensuring a regular and consistent supply of feedstuffs for that industry and the poultry industry and at prices that do not fluctuate too violently. In the potato industry he is hoping to see the establishment of a soundly based system of producer control come to fruition. He is quietly pleased, too, in having brought together interests in the wine industry in a wine institute, that will set standards and guard against the production of poor wines. and hopefully put the industry on a sounder basis. The key to this development has been agreement on the method of representation on the institute. These are examples of the soft of jobs in which Mr Barclay is involved. His philosophy in dealing with farming and associated groups is to try to encourage and steer but not direct or push. He sees the role of Government in agriculture

at the production level to assist the farmer through the Ministry, but not to become too closely involved at this level. He believes it is the farmer's business what he does with his grass. But when it comes to marketing of produce off the land he sees a place for the country and the producer working together. In this area he sees a need for those who are processing and handling farm produce once it leaves the farm, and adding value to it, to have more understanding of its marketing and a feeling of being involved. He believes that there should be more discussion between those doing the marketing and the workers involved. In the sense that he favours encouragement and persuasion rather than pushing or directing he does not spell out just how this should all take shape, but he wonders, for instance, how much of the 87 per cent of export earnings attributable to primary produce is contributed by those processing and handling it. Soon after the new Government came to power .in 1972 Mr Barclay was appointed chairman of a caucus committee to work out the details of the Government’s irrigation policy. "Irrigation is one of the dreams that I have had for many years . . .” he says. “It lias always appeared to be a good long term investment to work with the environment and the elements to increase production by bringing water and soil together under good farm management. I can see Canterbury and Otago and other areas blossoming in the future. This is what will happen, but it might not be in my time.” Mr Barclay says that his enthusiasm for irrigation probably developed from his association in his Timaru days with Mr Stafford, who was involved in the establishment of irrigation investigations at Winchmore. “I believe that we have got to manage the environment,” he says. “I do not think that the Almighty put us here just to sit down and look at it . . .” In all, farmers were showing interest in irrigation on more than Im acres, he said, and he and also farmers would realise that this could not all be irrigated in a short time, but a programmed development of this area over a period would transform the dry areas of the country. The major obstacle to irrigation development that he could see at present was manpower for planning and development He said he was glad that irrigation development was being decentralised away from Wellington with the establishment of local officials’ committees and was pleased with the way that farming groups were approaching these committees and having discussions with them. This was exactly what he wanted to see happen, so that priorities could be built up with local knowledge and judgments made of the keenness of farmers in different areas on a local basis and not through the political

system, although the fin.-, decisions would be made i Wellington. While appreciating th. regional water boards ha. to undertake studies to ensure that water resource . were fairly distributed before some irrigation schemes could be implemented, Mr Barclay said he believed that the first major scheme to be undertaken under the new policy was now fairly near being authorised. It was on 25,000 acres in the Maniototo in Central Otago where people had been trying for about 70 years to get irrigation. In-depth investigations were also starting on the Rakaia and central plains schemes in Canterbury, and a number of smaller schemes had been authorised. Mr Barclay sees land development, of which irrigation is part, having high priority for investment on the part of the Government, for he says that the Labour Party sees primary production as one of the focal points for increased production. not only in volume of output but through added value in processing, which also fitted into the concept of regional development. This also fitted into the pattern of financing social services. Turning to his new involvement in land development and settlement, Mr Barclay said that the Government had started with training for farming but training and settlement went together and it was no use training people unless there was a goal at the end. While he says he would like to see as many people as possible on their own farms or leasing them, he sees the need for stepping stones leading to farm settlement and as sharemilking provides such a link in the dairy industry, he is interested in the possible extension, if practical, of such a system of share farming to the sheep and beef cattle industry also. Another possibility might be a system of “staggered management” leading to ultimate control. The Government, too. he says has to become more interested physically in land settlement itself and whereas the last Government developed and settled 21 farms in its last four years in office, the present Government would this year be settling 25 units, next year 35 and the following year 50. and he was looking at means of improving on that. The Government had also reduced the amount of money available for lending for farm amalgamations and was putting much more emphasis on land settlement of people to the extent that whereas in 1971-72 about 423 had been settled through the State Advances Corporation under this year’s programme, for which s4om was available, the settlement of about 750 would be possible through the Rural Banking and Finance Corporation. Mr Barclay said he was keen on looking at proposals to buy suitable properties that came on the market for subdivision and settlement as dairy farms. He believed that dairying would provide a good opportunity for settlement

of young people coming out I of training schemes. An influx of younger: people into farming would i contribute, too, to a higher | level of productivity in that: it was normal for farmers: to go through three stages: — development phase when they were young, then consolidation and finally they were concerned with the disposal of their properties. Asked whether young people entering farming < might not be saddled with an unmanageable debt burden in these days of soaring land prices and other farm costs, Mr Barclay said that they were looking at ways of overcoming this through leasehold tenure and variable mortgage repayments, so that instead of paying on a table basis early payments were on a lower level until the property became well developed when repayments would be higher than the table figure. In areas like the West j Coast and Northland Mr Barclay believes that with| existing knowledge and: technology there is still great scope for land devel-| opment, and as soon as Parliament finishes he hopes I to get away from Welling- ' ton to see for himself. Pleased at the good relationships existing between i Federated Farmers at I national level and the I Minister and himself, Mr I Barclay said that such ’ mutual understanding meant I that problems could be overcome or they could be obviated. He sees more value often in round-table discussions with farming groups, listening to farmer opinion and gaining reactions and cultivating understanding than in formal addresses. “I have every faith in the farming industry and in young people to farm oun land,” says Mr Barclay. “If I can in my years in Parliament and in Government contribute towards increased production on a sound basis I will be happy ■ .