Falloon presents farmers’ case

Press, 1 July 1988, Page 2

Falloon presents farmers’ case

PA Wellington I Raw dags and a lamb leg roast were presented to the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, yesterday by the Opposition spokesman on agriculture, Mr John Falloon. In a letter accompanying the wool crutchings | and meat, Mr Falloon told I Mr Lange that “what I comes out of the rear of the sheep is more valuable to the farmer than a lamb.” Wool was worth 50c a kilogram to the farmer while lamb was worth 20c a kilogram, he said. Farmers’ returns for bare lamb carcases had fallen from $10.38' in 1983-84 to $3.95 in 198788, said the associate Opposition spokesman on agriculture, Mr Denis Marshall. He blamed Government policies for the drop in farmers’ incomes. The high exchange rate, which he said was caused by the Government’s “high interest rate” policy, had a bigger impact on meat farmers than other pastoral producers. He suggested the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, could talk the exchange rate down to a more realistic level. The Government should also further deregulate the labour market so that employers and staff in the meat-processing and ports industries would have more flexibility to reduce costs.

But the quickest way to improve farmers’ returns would clearly be to have the exchange rate fall, Mr Marshall said. A 10 per cent drop in

the exchange rate from its present level of about US6Bc would increase sheep and beef farmers’ incomes about $15,000 gross a year.