Agreement on meat scheme

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33966, 6 October 1975, Page 21

Agreement on meat scheme

(JI.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. | The price - smoothing scheme for meat an- ' nounced last week had been conceived and for- : mulated by the Meat:' Producers Board and, had been accepted with only minor modifications 1 by the Government, the; board's chairman (Mr, C. Hilgendorf) said in a statement. “In fact, two years ago! the board decided to build! up the meat industry reserve j account through a levy oni meat and. in anticipation of! this, approved changing our< levy from a fixed to an ad valorem basis. “It is, therefore, mis-1 leading to suggest, as isbeing done in some quarters,; that this is a Government-! sponsored scheme that is. being foisted on the board! and on the industry.

"The Prime Minister was accurate and fair in his description of the board's pricesmoothing scheme for meat in his address at Lincoln College on Wednesday. “His words were, ‘That the Government had been able to accept with only minor modifications the scheme brought forward by the meat board.” said Mr Hilgendorf.

“Unfortunately, some sec-1 tions of the media have blown this up into some kind of economic rabbit which the Government had produced out of a top hat.

"The facts are that the board has, to a greater or lesser extent, supported the price of meat for more than 20 years.

“In consultation with the board’s electoral committee I and Federated Farmers, it has now produced a' scheme by which deductions will be made when prices are high so that there is a continuing fund to support prices when they are low, “Legislative authority is necessary to run the scheme and, since very’ large sums — which may influence the whole economy — are involved, the Government; must understandably be associated with the scheme. “However, apart from rep-! resentation on the price-set-ting authority, the Government’s only actual involvement will be the approval of Reserve Bank loans when the fund is in debit. Conversely, of course, the fund can lend money to the Government when it is in credit.

“The scheme is intended to smooth out, to some extent, peaks and troughs in

: the prices farmers receive for meat. It is related ! strictly to market realisI ations and is unrelated to 1 income adequacy. “The fund is also self-bal-ancing and so has no ele- : ment of subsidy in it. And it i is to be administered by the I meat board — the farmers’ own organisation,” Mr Hil;gendorf said.