Farmers fear losses

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 29

Farmers fear losses

Recent decreases in theii lamb schedule and increases: in killing charges made a ■ mocker.’ of the prediction of : the Minister of Agriculture : (Mr Maclntyre) that farmers j would get a $2O return for i lambs this eason, said Mr J. i H. M. Dawson at Friday’s meeting of North Canterbury ' Federated Farmers meat and < wool executive. I Many farmers faced work- i ing at a loss because, unlike every other section of the i community, they could not < pass on cost increases to I consumers, Mr Dawson said. ; Fanners were going i through a particularly stag- : nant period, mainly because < it was virtually impossible ■ to find finance to increase I

ifarm production. Mr Dawson said he could not understand why the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) insisted that the farming community was in good heart. “He must be getting out-of-date information.” The chairman, Mr E. W. Turrell, said farmers had even’ reason to be angered by the lamb schedule announced on November 14. The meat exporting companies had destroyed their credibility by maintaining the PM grade at 113 c a kilogram (the floor price under the Meat Board's pricesmoothing scheme) and discounting all other grades, thus eliminating relativity between grades from within :

the schedule. Mr Turrell [said. The recent killing cost increases — IS to 20.5 per cent in Canterbury — meant farmers would have to increase their efficiency and productivity even further if they were to survive. “With internal inflation at 16 per cent and wages advancing at 17 per cent, farmers can well ask why Mr Muldoon has become so involved in industrial relations in the freezing industry when he could well be addressing himself to the internal inflation and wage settlements which have now become acceptable to his Government,” Mr Turrell said.