Cost of lack of pride lamented

Press, 18 July 1979, Page 3

Cost of lack of pride lamented

Lack of pride in all aspects of agriculture and processing was costing New Zealand hundreds of millions of dollars a year, said the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (Mr Maclntyre) at the annual conference of Federated Farmers yesterday. "1 am appalled how manycarcases have to be downgraded because of contamination caused not by disease but inefficient processing at freezing works,” Mr Maclntyre said. The same was true for badly presented wool, each tray of kiwifruit with unacceptable residue spray, each carton of fish below top quality, and contaminated dairy produce, he said. If New Zealand was to prosper, too quality was required, Mr Maclntyre said. Few meat works could meet the Ministry’s requirements for less than 8 per cent contamination, some not even for one month in a year. This was caused by dirt, not disease. Mr Maclntyre said that if dirty- stock arrived at a works farmers should back the freezing company' if it sent the stock back to their owners. New- Zealand agriculture had too many sacred cows, he said. “When will the farmer realise that New Zealand will never be able to afford so many works that he can be sure of having his animals killed on the day or days that suit him?” Mr Maclntyre said. It was essential that farmers realised the economies of scale of spreading their season, killing their ewes early, and producing heavier lean lambs, he said. This would also produce better industrial relations.