Bleak forecast for Taranaki farm jobs

Press, 28 August 1986, Page 15

Bleak forecast for Taranaki farm jobs

PA New Plymouth Between 500 and 750 Taranaki farm workers could lose their jobs before June next year, says a recent Taranaki dairy farm monitoring report. The report, prepared by the Advisory Services Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, drew on the findings of an Egmont County survey, which indicated that if milkfat payments fell below $3, about 100 permanent farm employees would be laid off. In Taranaki, this would mean 600 unemployed farm workers, it said. However, the full effect of unemployment would be spread much wider. Drastically reduced staff numbers within the Livestock Improvement Association, and rationalisation of staff levels as a result of the WrightsonDalgety merger, were cited as examples. The report suggested that large numbers of dis-

placed agriculturally skilled people would be unable to find new positions within the same market. Furthermore, farmers and their spouses seeking employment away from the farm would place pressure on the over-all labour market. Besides laying off staff and in many cases dispensing with herd testing, farmers were expected to offset income losses by reducing spending on fertiliser 50 per cent, reducing personal spending an average $4OOO a farm, and cutting development and capital expenditure to very low levels. The Ministry said that while farm incomes would be similar to 1985-86 realisations (these being down 29 per cent on 1984-85), 5 per cent of fanners were experiencing such financial difficulty that they would have to sell. Within two to three years, a further 20 per cent of

farms could be on the market. The report said that the full impact of the present cash crisis would hit farmers until January, with those nearing overdraft limits likely to find additional credit hard to obtain.