Farm advisers ‘dedicated bunch’

Press, 28 August 1982, Page 3

Farm advisers ‘dedicated bunch’

Canterbury farmers have a lot to thank Ministry of Agriculture farm advisory officers for, according to the president of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, Mr A. L. Mulholland. “By and large they are a dedicated bunch who work very closely with the farming community,” he said. The criticism that “allgrass wintering” was bad advice by farm advisory officers was nonsense. “In my experience, where ‘all-grass wintering’ has been advised, it has been accompanied by warnings about what , can happen if autumn Swth fails and recommenions to carry adequate stocks of supplementary feed such as hay and grain to cover such an eventuality. “Farm advisers give advice in good faith. I wonder how many farmers have come to grief in the current drought through not taking advice.” : Mr Mulholland was responding to an item in, “The Press” on Thursday which reported criticism of “all-grass wintering” at a meeting of the provincial executive of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, i; “I am very concerned at the implications contained in the report, firstly because of two comments attributed to me which were* not complete,” Mr. Mulholland said. “The first comment relates to my remark that farmers •have been? forced to carry more stock'. in a desperate attempt to. increase their incomes in the face*of the severe drought. What I actually said was a .desperate attempt to increase their - incomes in the face'of a severe-liquidity situation. “The second comment relates to an incomplete report on a comment I made. I said that ‘there were good farm advisers and some not so good.’ That was stated in the news item. What was not stated was the rest of my comment which continued by saying "just as there are good farmers and some not so good.”