Farm chances 'still'

Press, 4 September 1980, Page 2

Farm chances 'still'

It may not be as hard < for a young person to get >• a start in fanning these days as some people imag- < ine. , . , ! . Speaking to the land ■* use seminar at- Lincoln *. College yesterday the ■. principal, Professor J. D. • Stewart, said that he had •; recently asked a number • of people who had long •• experience in farm finance 1 and settlement whether it • was harder today for a • young person tc get start- ; ed in farming than at any • time since World War 11. ; No-one had said that it • was harder and some had ‘ said that it was easier. • “The suggestion is that . if there is real determina- » tion, coupled with the • concessionary conditions - that are available, the op--4 portunities are still there.’’ ’ Professor Stewart, how- • ever, expressed some dis--4 quiet about the continuing, ' although reduced level, of farm amalgamation — last ’ year nearly 30 per cent of freehold farm sales result- • ed in property amalgama- :* tion. He said it certainly *. disturbed those who were • acutely conscious of the ° numbers of well qualified

young people who sought a start in farming. However, the number of farmers being settled on their first farms had remained at a reasonable level — the Rural Bank had been settling about 1000 to 1200 new farmers each year and some in-.' formed people suggested', that another 500 . to 800 were settled from other . sources. This rate of settlement did not seem to be less than that required for a balanced age structure in the industry. It appeared that the average age of New Zealand farmers was - 43, which was lower than in comparable Western countries. Nevertheless, Professor Stewart believed that the continuing amalgamation of farms was bad. There was no conclusive evidence of marked economies of scale and there was widely documented evidence of social and cultural decline associated with the trend. If the seminar could come up with a workable policy, on property amalgamation it would have achieved quite a lot, Pro-

fessor Stewart said. He did'not see how a factor tax, even if it was administratively feasible, would counter this trend, and indeed it might accelerate it through strengthening the' hand of the most efficient. ..A capital gains tax might . ’ have a counter effect, but from American experience it should not be imagined that it would dampen the inflation of land values. Professor Stewart said that his personal attitude to the purchase of farms by business and professional people was that if they brought urban capital into farm development, and at the same time provided an opportunity for qualified young farmers in either a managerial role, or preferably in an equity sharing sole, then this was acceptable. At the college it was believed that there were increasing opportunities to bring together people with land or capital and young farmers with limited capital and place them in a mutually advantageous situation. The college’s property management service was beginning to make progress in this area.