Farmers may be told to quit

Press, 15 April 1986, Page 22

Farmers may be told to quit

PA Wellington The farming crisis is forcing the Land Settlement Board to consider helping recently-settled farmers off Lands and Survey Department blocks. The Land Settlement Board, chaired by the Minister of Lands, Mr Wetere, is seeking a check on the financial position of about 250 farmers with a view to advising some of them to quit their farms, the “Dominion” reports. The board recently asked the department to provide information on farmers settled in the last three years and to pinpoint those without a viable future. The board will consider advising them to cut their losses and get out rather

than try to struggle on. It will canvass options to find a fair and simple way to help them off their land, the “Dominion” reports.

Questions to board members from farmers on the wisdom of staying in business are believed to have sparked the review.

The board would normally wait till the end of June before re-appraising its policies, but the financial pressures on farmers have forced it to act urgently. As land prices tumble it expects a wave of requests for farm revaluation from farmers who want their rents reduced. Only two farmers have done this so far but the board has set up a small committee to handle the expected influx.