Farmers hopeful

Press, 19 July 1976, Page 2

Farmers hopeful

Farming leaders in Canterbury are adopting a cautious but hopeful attitude to the agricultural review committee which the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre) announced last week was to be established. It will je concerned with the compilation, exchange, and analysis of data as a background to agricultural policymaking and planning, but will have no deliberative functions, and will not make recommendations. “Whether this is just another committee — New Zealand style — or whether it is worth while will depend on whether or not the Government acts on the information that the committee makes available," said the president of North Canterbury Federated Farmers (Mr P. G. Morrison) at the week-end. It would co-ordinate the information already collected by a number of organisations connected with the industry, such as the producer boards and Government departments. “I would say that I am enough of an optimist to see some good coming out of this in the future, said the president of Mid-Canterbury Federated Fanners (Mr R. W. Johnston). “1 feel that it

is going some way towards farmers’ requirements. It is I not all that we have been 1 asking for, but I am pre-1 pared to wait and see what results it might bring. And ; in the meantime it does not prevent us from taking steps we might want to take.” He welcomed the Minister’s announcement of the establishment of the review committee as a recognition by the Government of Federated Farmers’ case for an annual review of the industry, said the South 1 Canterbury president (Mr P. ' H. Elworthy). 1

Though the exact functions of the new committee were not yet clear, farmers had been assured by the national executive of their organisation that the committee, with influential Federated Farmers participation in it, would prove to be a major step towards the annual review that they had sought. Mr Elworthy said that fanners would seek to ensure that the national executive used its influence to see that the committee that promise.