Industry not plain sailing

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 18

Industry not plain sailing

The chief executive of the Primary Producers’ Cooperative Society, Mr I. H. Jenkinson, had “a go” at most things when he spoke at the seminar on lamb marketing at the Lincoln farmers’ conference last week — the Government, meat companies. unions, farmers, single selling organisations and private enterprise.

“Some areas of the North Island do not have the intense labour problems that cause the freezing works in the South Island, perhaps further south than Canterbury, to be out of action many more times than the casual reader of the newspaper would be aware of ...,” he said early in the piece. “It always appears to be something of a problem that Governments and statutory boards, set up to perform certain functions, rapidly discover that the basic functions and election promises are almost impossible to carry out... I would suggest that if Governments governed we would find lamb marketing and lamb trading a lot easier. Similarly, if the Meat Board concentrated its undoubted talents on the problems of overseas freights and product grading, just to mention two of its important statutory responsibilities, the return to the farmer from the present trading opportunities would be greater ... “One hundred years of the meat industry has given labour and management a great deal to answer for. Short-sighted policies by boards and management and short-sighted policies by the Government have, all formed a rigid structure, which does not appear to have the ability to change to allow the use of new technologies, new market requirements and the product development necessary for New Zealand to maintain a place in existing and new markets ...

“The idea of a single marketing authority as a panacea for internally generated problems would be

ludicrous if it was not taken so seriously by various interested parties ... “Thoughtful people within the meat industry know full well that under the present private enterprise system of meat trading there are substantial stresses. Some of the most aggressive proponents of free enterprise, once having developed into large and powerful organisations, immediately begin producing excellent arguments to allow a semi or complete monopoly situation to come into being. This, in my opinion, is one of the worst aspects of free enterprise and needs to be vigorously controlled ...

“Just how the balance of enthusiastic growth of new marketing companies, or a change in direction of existing companies can best be encouraged is, I think, the most important problem we should put our minds to. Regulation of the market has not done this. To a considerable degree we have already seen the concept of a single controlling marketing organisation in the activities of the Meat Board in relation to the North American, Peruvian, Chilean, French and West German markets.

“Regardless of how much propaganda has poured out about DEVCO (the Meat Export Development Company) which 1 markets all lamb in North America, the penetration of the North American market has been pitiful. We all know the United States market is a demanding one. We also know how well, we are told, our product is presented and marketed within the United States. Why then is the amount of lamb product going to America failing miserably to keep pace with the increased quantity of lamb being produced in New Zealand?

“A great deal is made by concerned New Zealanders and politicians about further processing in New Zealand. We have seen some improvement in lamb cut tonnages in recent years. A minority of the production has come

from an assessment, of, what j the market wants, while a I majority has been because of j; the construction of the .ex- ’ port tax incentives.

“My argument is ; that y there are a number of physi- • cal limits to New Zealand ’i technology and New Zealand y freezing works labour per- ■; mitting a rapid increase in « the further processing of • lamb within New Zealand. )

“Farmers keep on saying *' ‘give us sufficient price encouragement and we will f produce the right -sort of ( lamb for the market? There < is no right sort of lamb for ’ all markets. Similarly external forces, such as the rela- ■; five value of wool and meat, ) and, above all, the weather - are two of the most impor- ' tant factors deciding the. ’ type of lamb that the ■’ farmer has produced over the last few years. I am ■■ afraid that we are going to ' see more and more of.this • type of restraint, based on •’ the pragmatic attitude of farmers towards well mean- • ing efforts on the part of the ' Government and other bodies . to increase production of ; various products such as . wool, beef etc., with every- > body failing to realise that ' the spin-off from some of > this emphasis may upset a ’ product’s suitability for a , market ...”