Names submitted for Potato Board

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 11

Names submitted for Potato Board

Federation 'siti Potato Growers’ Produce Cm th® New Zealand Vegetable and thdr nonS?t ers /deration have submitted bers of the ie grower memMinister f ew . Potato Board to the Associate *uinistei of Agriculture, Mr Bolger.

new board is being " Thd.JS U ? der the rh» nU • Act approved in ' last p2h" B Stages of the • »tl , Pa r>‘amentary session ' ,„, e ast year The act in- • ° ,u S irn P° rtar| t changes indu t crBanisation of the

sections of growers and have their confidence. For some time his federation and the Vegetable and Produce Growers’ Federation had sought to form one autonomous body, but their respective ties had prevented this happening at the time. Ministers of agriculture had said that if the two groups of growers were not able to agree amongst themselves then they would have no alternative but to bring down something from outside that would hopefully serve all their inter-' ests, - and the legislation providing for a board with six growers with two drawn from each of three wards with one from each W’ard representing main crop growers and one representing early crop growers was the attempt of Mr Bolger to do this.

wc n t k he rst inst ance each o' tne federations have neen Sv? rged with the responsibility of nominating a & N?r 2 0r each of Ow three wards into which the country has been subdivided. These are Auckland province, the rest of «he North island' plus Nelson and Marlborough, and the balance of the South Island.

u 'LI R ; G - Chambers, of Highbank in MidCanterbury who is chairman of the New Zealand Potato Growers’ Federation, said this week that ms federation’s secretary had contacted all affiiated associations of the federation in the respective wards seeking nominations. In two of these areas — Ward I or the northern ward and Ward 3 or the South Island ward apart from Nelson and Marlborough — there had been more than one nomination and a ballot had been held among financial members of the associations.

The Parliamentary Opposition favoured a six-ward system with one grower being appointed from each ward, and this would probably have w’orked had all growers been able to form themselves into one body, and it was hoped that if in the future such unity could be achieved it might be possible to move to such a system of representation.

The federation’s nominations are:—Ward I (Auckland province), A. Edmonds (Putaruru). a main crop and seed producer in the Waikato. Ward II (the rest of the North Island and Nelson and Marlborough), W. Williams (Marton), a member of the old board for about 22 years who is a table potato grower. Ward 111 (the rest of the South Island). G. E. Wright (Sheffield), the chairman of the old board, who is a seed potato grower The general secretary of th» New Zealand Vegetable and Produce Growers’ F°deration, Mr D. W. Goble, has also announced his federation’s nominations. They are: Ward I, A. G. Wilcox (Patumahoe). Ward 11, J. L. Clavton TNapier). Ward 111, P" A. van Zyl (Kakanui, North Otago). Mr Chambers said that South Island growers had had some reservations about the new’ legislation, particularly on the score of grower representation on the new board. But there were so many other good features of it. such as the registration of grow’ers, the introduction of a minimum standard of quality scheme and wider powers for the board that it was felt it would have been a serious disservice to the industry if' those opposed to their representation on the board had continued to press for change in this respect and the other good features of the legislation had been lost or delayed. Mr Chambers said that th° representation issue related to the fact that there were both early and main crop growers. Early growers had traditionally been members of the Vegetable and Produce Growers’ Federation in that their operations were generally combined with vegetable growing and sometimes with process crop growing too. while main crop and seed growers tended to be oriented towards Federated Farmers because of their community of interest with stock and crop production. The problem that had therefore confronted successive ministers of agrirul ture was to try to establish a board that would serve the interests of both

It was a matter of great disappointment to South Island growers that their local National Party members of Parliament, aware that all South Island grower associations were in favour of a six-ward system. had seen fit to vote with the Government in support of a three-ward system. However, Mr Chambers said that over the federation as a whole, which included seven groups, the three-ward system had been favoured by a maIsland areas also preferred jority, although some North the six-ward system. However, now that the legislation had been approved it would be fair to say that growers opposed to the representation provisions had reluctantly accepted them. A major disadvantage of a three-ward system w r as that there might not be such a good regional coverage by board members.

After the first year of the new' board as members started to come up for reelection, depending on whether they were Potato Growers’ Federation or Vegetable Growers’ Federation nominees, the federation involved would call for nominations from the associations affiliated with it and the nominations would be forwarded to the board, which w’ould hold a vote if necessary.

The elections would be held among all registered growers in a ward on a one-man one-vote basis, which was in line wdth the submissions made by the Potato Growers’ Federation.

thing that the Ministry of Agriculture had been pressing for.

Tne new minimum quality standard scheme would provide for a standard of quality below which it would be illegal to market potatoes through roadside stalls or other traditional market outlets.

To be eligible, for election to the board a candidate had to be a registered grower, have been involved in the industry for the past three years and likely to be involved in the future, and it had been suggested that there might also be a requirement that, to be a candidate a grower should have growm at least a minimum acreage.

With this there would also be a method of identification of growers and also a date of packing would be shown on the package. The general feeling 'was that the grower’s responsibility should end at the first point of sale.

The introduction of this system would be dependent on the gazetting of regulations and would await the organisation of administrative features by the board.

It was hoped that eventually the scheme would be. self-policing. Growers w-ould be aware of the standards required and if they did not pack up to them they would realise that they would stand a chance of their product being viewed by an inspector. The consumer would benefit in being able to obtain a better quality and more uniform product, and it was hoped that growers would be compensated through their returns. The new board would have powers to foster exports and to actually import and export potatoes, and while these powers had been interpreted in some quarters to mean that the board had been given marketing powers, it was doubtful if they would ever be implemented. Mr Chambers said he felt that the board’s role would be to rationalise exports and ensure that a merchant who arranged the export of potatoes was given some measure of protection. The new legislation provides for all registered growers to be eligible for compensation for surplus potatoes. Such aspects of this scheme as the quality of potatoes to qualify and the question of payment of compensation for seed had still to be worked out and there was provision for this to be done. The idea was that compensation should be paid from interest generated by a fund, with provision for the use of capital for this purpose also only if all grower members of the board agreed and the Minister of Agriculture also approved.

The method of appointment of members to the board meant that whereas in the past they had been responsible directly to grow-ers they would also now have a certain measure of responsibility to the federation that had nominated them. It would, therefore, be in the interests of growers to take an active interest in their associations and the federation would do all that it could to see that every association was an active and interesting organisation working for the benefit of them. Mr Chambers said that there was now provision for the federation to be funded through a levy either on the area of potatoes or sales of potatoes. This had still to be sorted out. The Vegetable Growers’ Federation received a levy on all potatoes sold from November until the end of February. One of the good features of the legislation was the provision for registration of growers, but it would be a year’s time before this could be completed. As a result the board would know the area that was in potatoes, where they were sown and the varieties sown, and with knowledge of likely yields it would have a very accurate impression of production, which could be helpful in marketing. This was some-

However, for the 1978-79 season all grower associations had approved the suspension of the compensation scheme.

Mr Chambers said that this action had been taken because of dissatisfaction with the present scheme. Some growers who had to contribute to it by law through a levy contended that because of the type of potatoes they produced they were not able to qualify for compensation, and early crop growers and also main crop growers who marketed early in some years felt that the scheme was encouraging an unwarranted increase in the acreage.

But at times of a surplus of potatoes Mr Chambers said that the scheme gave an alternative outlet for main crop potatoes which might otherwise be forced .on to the northern market - in competition with early potatoes and it therefore gave early growers some protection. Over the last two years he said that the levy had been 50c per tonne, which was barely enough to cover the costs of administration of the board, but it had once been S 3 per tonne.

As well as the six grower members, the new board will also include one merchant representative and one auctioneer representative and a Government member.

The co-operation of, all sections of the industry was now required to make the new act work, Mr Chambers said.