The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1944. TREND OF PRODUCTION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 114, 9 February 1944, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1944. TREND OF PRODUCTION

In the final analysis probably no matters, of the many that should be fully discussed by Parliament, take precedence in-importance to the present position and the outlook of the primary industries of the Dominion. Before this country can play its part adequately in the Pacific zone, or any wider sphere, it must be economically strong, and that implies a great deal. Whatever post-war developments may be will depend upon the initiative and enterprise of the community, but it cannot be gainsaid that the primary industries will be the main basis of the national structure, and that fact alone demands careful attention to their problems. Speaking in Taranaki during the week- Mr. W. J. Polson, MR, expressed concern over what he described as “the apparent swing toward wool production instead of necessary foodstuffs.” It might be wrong to regard that movement as possessing any marked degree of permanence. It probably is an effect, the result of causes quite outside the power of the individual farmer or the industry to control. There are obviously two prime factors, one the prolonged scarcity of fertilizers and the other the serious shortage of labour. And both these things have accumulative effect, which is now becoming increasingly plain. Pastures may remain satisfactory for a year or so without the use of fertilizers, indeed there are areas that probably would appear satisfactory after a longer period, but when the “bottom” goes out of the pasture then nothing can prevent production from falling. This is more quickly apparent in dairying districts-than elsewhere and undoubtedly has been the cause of many dairy-farmers reducing the size of their herds or, for the time being, going out of dairying altogether. ■ • The second prime factor, the shortage of labour, also hits this branch of primary production hardest, for dairy-farming calls for' ample labour over the greater part of the year. The fact is that suffi-j cient labour has not been available. The efforts made by farmers, and their wives and families,'to carry on have been remarkable, but in many instances they simply cannot continue much longer. Many elderly people returned to the milking-sheds when the young men went away, in the hope that they would be able to keep things going until the, servicemen returned; but when it becomes a matter of years they; have not the physical capacity for the prolonged strain. That has! caused many men to reduce their herds and run a small flock of sheep, which require less labour-power and which can do better than the heavier stock on the reduced pasturage. The same problems in slightly different degree confront many sheep-farmers. Faced with a decline in carrying capacity they may have to carry more dry'sheep i —although the stock returns do not yet indicate any trend in that I direction. However, it is a possibility that must be faced, and as it 1 would strike at the export trade in lamb it would have serious effects. But no evidence has yet been forthcoming to show that the changes to which Mr. Polson has referred are anything but temporary. They may be said to constitute the adjustments many farmers have been compelled to make to meet exceptional circumstances.. In prob-i ably a majority of cases the change involves a decline in income ' especially for the dairy-farmer. The best possible return from first-1 class dairying land is dairying, and once the man on the land can obtain fertilizers and the labour necessary economic reasons probably will result in a return to former methods. ■ It would, however, be criminally short-sighted for the Government, or Parliament, to be satisfied with that possibility. The Minister of Agriculture has expressed the hope that substantially increased quantities of fertilizer will be obtained and that would be a great fillip, in more ways than one, to production. Those supplies depend upon outside sources, but the provision of labour for the farms is purely a domestic matter and calls for both consideration and action. The cumulative effects of the things which have tended to hamper production can now be studied and the steps that can be taken to prevent; not simply a change in farming practice but the much more serious threat of an extensive decline in the productive capacity of the country, must be taken without delay. Action is essential in the. interests of the Dominion’s economic stability, and to that must be added the very important fact, already recognized by the nations at the international conference to discuss relief in the post-war world, that this country is regarded as an important source of world supply, especially of foodstuffs. . ■ .