Budget: not a great deal for farmers

Press, 17 July 1981, Page 8

Budget: not a great deal for farmers

After the announcement of the supplementary minimum price for wool earlier in the month and the Government’s prices for other products earlier still, it was not to be expected that there would be a great deal in the Budget for farmers and this expectation turned out to be correct. Here is how the three provincial presidents of Federated Farmers in Canterbury saw the document;—

The president of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, Mr A. L. Mulholland: It was not an election buying Budget. I think that the Minister of Finance had little room to manoeuvre. There was not much in it for farmers but I do not think that you could really expect there to be in the state of the economy. And as far as farmers are concerned they had got their part of the Budget in the earlier announcement of the supplementary minimum prices for farm products. I really think that charity starts at home and I would be critical of the level of Government spending. I think all of us would have in mind an instance where Government spending could be curtailed — the straightening of that bend in the road that we have lived with for years. While the increase in the exemption from estate duties is appreciated, an extra $50,000 will not go a long way with the appreciation of land values. On the allocation of extra funds to the Rural Bank for lending to farmers, I am just a little concerned that farmers are becoming very much tied to one source 61 finance, although I appreciate that the Rural Bank has done many good things for •farming. I think that the Prime Minister was probably justified in refusing to make any alteration to income tax when the Federation of Labour has steadfastly refused to come to the party over a trade-off between wage increases and a tax cut.

The president of MidCanterbury Federated Farmers, Mr A. J. Blair: I think that the earlier announcement of the supplementary minimum prices took away from the Budget the expectation that farmers

normally associate with it. And on this subject, if inflation keeps going on those prices may not be quite as rosy as they may appear at the present time. However, of advantage to farmers were some of the things that the Budget did not say. It left in place unchanged some of the schemes that are necessary if production is to be increased, such as the subsidy on fertiliser. But it was disappointing that although it was up by about 16 per cent, the vote for agriculture and fisheries with inflation could be effectively virtually static. This might not even maintain the existing staffing level of advisory officers, which will have a bearing on research knowledge getting into the hands of farmers and leading to increased production.

It was essential that something should be done to help young farmers to get on to the land, said Mr Blair in referring to. alterations to the farm vendor finance scheme, and the increase in the exemption from estate duties was only keeping pace with the increasing level of land values — it was necessary to have a situation where economic farm units could be passed on without the problems of the past. Referring to increased support for education in rural areas, such as increased boarding allowances, he said that this came back to maintaining an equal opportunity for education for young people in rural areas. The president of South Canterbury Federated Farmers. Mr A. R. Leslie: The Budget was pretty well a non-event, as far as farmers were concerned, as financial policies for them were announced in the supplementary minimum prices. The lift in the supplementary price for wool announced earlier in the month is likely to be eaten up to a very considerable extent by the extra costs that farmers are likely to incur in the coming season. In the end in the coming season in spite of the supplementary minimum prices and because of the effects of inflation I can see the meat and wool farmer beir in a similar difficult

situation to last season, and with increased costs the arable farmer will also be tending to look seriously at the economics of cropping.

I am pleased to see an extra S32M has been made available to the Rural Bank for farmers to undertake development, but it has to be remembered that it is not a gift and has to be borrowed. The extra $50,000 exemption for estate duties is not a massive increase and only keeps up with inflation.

And on the unchanged subsidy on the price of fertiliser, Mr Leslie said it would be a matter of very great disappointment to farmers that it was likely that superphosphate prices would soon rise by about 20 per cent.