Attitude to farming ‘short-sighted’

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 2

Attitude to farming ‘short-sighted’

The Government hast been criticised by the! national president of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science (Mr' F. \V. Phillips) for a; short-sighted attitude to] agriculture. Mr Phillips, addressing the' Canterbury section of the institute. expressed o reat dis-1 appointment about the Gov- i ernment's "short-sighted, ] short-term -ccountlng ap-1 proach" to New Zealand's.' balance-of-payments deficit.! when related to a policy for! agriculture. ' Mr Phillips said that farmers needed to know where' they were going and to have! confidence i the future be-! fore they could be expected' to make present personal sacrifice and commitments in the hope of future profitability. It was important that farmers invested in their I properties for the future to ensure growth of the total national income. On irrigation. Mr Phillips said that the Government’s; deliberate slowing-down of planning and scheme imple-1 mentation could only put | Canterbury’s ftture prosper-' ity in danger. Continuation j of this policy would stunt j agricultural growth. This) short-sightedness could onlv | produce “a deformed agriculture.” It took at least 10 years] for returns from investment' in major irrigation schemes! to become significant, said Mr Phillips, but it should be! appreciated that the outlavl in the first year or two on! any new scheme was usually I less than 25 per cent of the] total scheme cost. It there-i fore made good sense to 1

(begin work now, and be] i geared for the major ini vestment needs in two to : three years. Mr Charles Hilgendorf, chairman of the Meat Board, in commenting at the week- 1 end on the over-all level of I (opening prices for lamb in the new export season, ex- { pressed disappointment that] the level was not a little! higher. He would have thought that the basic schedule could! have been a little higher,! land the premium for early shipment a little lower. | Of the O grade of lambs, i he said that he regarded the* differential as too wide, i But he thought the] (present shortage of Jamb on .■the British market might; make it one of those seasons! 'when a very high price p - ij before Christmas might not! be sustained. “In all of this thinking, there is the great complication of what happens to sterling,” Mr Hilgendorf] 'said. A spokesman for a meat , 'exporting firm also sounded! a note of caution. It had to ihe remembered, he said, that! I the bulk of New Zealand! i lamb sales were still made I 'in Britain, and while very (good prices were now being ! paid for lamb there “in a (climate of meat shortage,” ■ two factors would bear on 'the future course of returns to farmers - the relative ] strength of sterling, which had lost ground by some 121 tto 15 per cent since the 'beginning of the year, and economic conditions in : Britain. He wondered what I influence any ' -ther measures adopted by the British (Government, to counter Britain’s worsening financial 1 plight, might have on the Jamb market.