FARMERS' UNION

Evening Star, Issue 19319, 4 August 1926, Page 12

FARMERS' UNION

YESTERDAY'S CONFERENCE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES At the Dominion Conference of the Warmers’- Union, opened at Wellington yesterday,-the Prime Minister, continuing his address, said that owing to the season there had been, in terms of butter-fat, a decrease of 1 5.6 per cent, compared with the previous one. England had received two and a-half times as much cheese ns in 19BT From Canada she had received in 1925 barely as much as in 1913. The sheep returns showed a further increase of 200,000. The wool clip- was somewhat affected by the unfavorable weather conditions. The prospects for the coming season fenerally were good, and,with tho fulIment of more stable, market conditions the position was fairly promising. A satisfactory increase ;of 250,000 .carcasses of lamb took place last season. There had been a reduction in beef. Ho stated that the market was ready for. practically unlimited-quantities of pork and eggs. It was interesting to taote that an increased acreage had been put down in wheat, and with anything like a decent season the dominion should have an abundance to see the country through and possibly some lor export. After reference to the increasing importance of seed production, the Prime Minister went on to say that New Zealand was rapidly approaching the stage when it was essential that the study of economic conditions as they affected production should be made. The department had added an economic research branch to its. activities. COMPARISONS WITH DENMARK PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. In his address the President (Mr W. J. Poison) made many interesting comEarisons between New , Zealand and lenmark. He said : It is a mistake to suppose that, the Danish dairy farmers - are great cooperators. As a matter of fact, barely 40 per cent, of them are members of co-operative dairy factories at all.. Thirty per cent, deal with private proprietary factories, and 30 per cent, sell to. the C.W.S. and Maypole butter concerns of Great Britain, who have various organisations_ in Denmark. A dairy’s nutter which is 1 per cent, below, or.s point above the average gets tho same payment, but if it falls below that 'the deduction rises automatically in proportion ,to the fall in-'tho number of points. The amount produced by the deduction has to bo divided amongst the dairies whose average-character is more than J point above the average-char-acter cf all dairies by examination. All butter is sold before - it leaves Denmark to- regular buyers, who have been in the habit of getting it and can rely on the standard. In every case these buyers get the product of the dairy associations they are used to. The factories are paid the Copenhagen quotation every ten days, and get any balance coming to them by way of bonus every year. The methods by which the Copenhagen quotations is made are familiar to everybody. It is a price I fixed in conformity with selling conditions, and is in no way an attempt to hold up values. There are eleven coin Denmark, and they exported 900,000 casks of butter last year. The Estjberg Association alone exports 200,000 caskh, or 3,600 a. week. WHERE THE DANE SCORES.

The greatest importance is attached not to pjuce, but to freshness. That is where the Dane scores his sole victory over us. Unfortunately young Danes are, going abroad to Latvia, Esthonia, Finland, and even Siberia and teaching competitors how to make butter equal to their own. The consequence is a congestion of buttar in cold store at Home, a great deal of it Now Zealand. Our Australian neighbors, profiting by Danish experience, are meeting the market, obtaining good sales, and reaching prices equal to New Zealand. How far this has been the result of the long storage of on- product, and how far to anti-control propaganda, one cannot determine, but probably improvement in Australian quality is not alone responsible. ■

Thera is unfortunately a very strong feeling at Home against what the British grocer and merchant erroneously believe to be the policy of the Dairy Board. Members of the Commission of which I was recently a member, who made careful investigations in most of the important centres of Great Britain, were astonished and alarmed at the hostility of many who had formerly been our customers and who were now purchasing other butters. It was difficult to make them understand that the board had no policy of dictation in mind, but was out to establish a system which would remove instead of create difficulties. Dictation and any attempt at price fixing would, in my opinion, bo suicidal. It is equally _ important that butter should not remain too long in store. We should never lose sight of the importance of freshness. English stores are not all of tho same standard, and in some of the sheds which do duty as such the variations of temperature must play serious havoc with quality. Some experts think that we should concentrate on cheese more than we do. I ■ was shown Now Zealand cheese of such beautiful quality that it could nob be beaten anywhere, and again choose which’looked not unlike cracked soap. These variations are no doubt due to circumstances beyond our. control , in Now Zealand under present conditions, and constitute one of ihe pro! Inns the Dairy Control Board is called upon to face. The whole position is surrounded with greater difficulties than I for one appreciated before investigating for myself. It appears to me that we have failed to realise that our competitors have been moving forward faster ’than we are, and that they are rapidly overhauling us. We must concentrate on quality more than we are doing, and study how to improve conditions at the other end, so that all we gain at this end will not be lost there. PIG RAISING. An important adjunct to dairy farming which has never been eatislactorily developed in New Zealand, is pig-rais-ing, which lias reached enormous figures in Denmark. . From information given me by many representative farmers in various parts of Denmark, and checked by the co-operatives I visited, item twelve to sixteen pigs'are fattened for every cow milked. The Danish experts to whom I spoke seemed to think that wo would do better to send salted and cured baron in 'suitable odd storage temperatures from New Zealand than to try the market with frozen pork. At the time I left Denmark there did not appear to he much demand for pork cm the English market. I have hopes that we may be able to increase cur export bacon bitfiness. Thp Danes, by their sanitary methods (which aro well understood by our authorities), their selection of j a hardy type of bacon pig, and their care to prevent long haulage to the killing factories are able to reduce their proportion of condemned pigs to a bagatelle. There >s no reason why wo should not do the. same. They place mild cured bacon of a familiar kind'on the London: market, and, as- the .result of information obtained in Denmark, I am hopeful that we will be able to attempt ft." -

NEW ZEALAND LAND VALUES. There is a belief that land values are much higher'in New Zealand than in ‘most other Countries, , and . that, rto quote a much-used expression,“we are capitalising the climate.” There is no doubt that climatic conditions enable tho New Zealand, fanner.to work his land cheaper than the American, Canadian, or Northern European farmer, while absence of the droughts which affect most warmer countnos to a greater or lesser degree add to the stability of his business. But while these are factors in the value of land, productive conditions being equal, they are not the only factors. 'taxation, especially in Great Britain, is seriously prejudicing land values. On the other hand, however, as far as it was possible to mako comparison, New Zealand and Danish and Swedish laud was much about the same price, while French fanning land was, if anything, higher. The prairie lands of the Western United Suites, subject as they are to the handicaps of occasional droughts, long railway haulage, which makes it possible for tho Far West, by tuo use of soa carriage, to undersell the Middle West in the markets of tho East, and. until recently high interest costs have all helped to*keep down American land values elsewhere than jn tho fertile lands adjacent to tho cities, but there values are occasionally much higher than anything in New Zealand. On the other hand, much" of the Western and Middle Western fanning land is lower. On the whole, having due regard to tho conditions. New Zealand land values to-day, while comparing favorably with those of many countries, are not unreasonably high. , FREEZING INDUSTRY. .

Wo know that the Meat Board is animated solely by the desire to do its best for the producers, and that the anxiety of both board and Minister is to prevent freezing interests controlling our means ol production by the purchase of tho freezing works. But credit has been the foundation of ,our colonial development, and overseas capital. is as desirable in the' development of our freezing industry as any other industry. But 'foreign capital—and 1 use the term merely as distinct from local capital— must be shut out lor 1 ear of the trusts; The Meat Board is not to stop tho use of foreign capital, but to supervise it. • But if the board and tho Government are going to maintain the | attitude that foreign capital must be j shut out for fear of tho trusts, them lit must substitute something else, i What should that substitution consist off 1 believe that the plan should bo to give additional powers to the board to enable it to review the whole posn tion, value works, not only as producing units, but having regard to their economic value, and also to their value as an insurance factor, and. that a sum should beset aside by Parliament for, the board’s use to subsidise such works, as in its judgment it considered it desirable or necessary should be maintained if in its opinion such works could nob function profitably without some such ' help. 1 observe that in New South "Wales there is a plan of this kind in operation or under- consideration, andi trunk it is necessary in New Zealand. INFLUENCE OF TRUSTS. While on this question may I say that we have every reason to continue our precautions against tho operations of trusts in this country. ’ The fight between the two great packing combinations (Swift’s and - V’es toy's) in South America has revealed the danger arising from such: combinations. Any understanding between such huge interests would put the South American producers at their mercy, and on the other hand the tight between them for supremacy just now has resulted in hammering down prices on Smithfield, so that producers all over the world are suffering in consequence. The enormous power which Vestey and Co. possess, through their numerous subsidiary companies, as well as the Union Cold Storage Company, is not fully realised. There is a feeling on the part of many producers that the Meat Board is not doing all it should do in combating the influences of trusts. I confess I am unable to see what more it could do at the other end. While there is a belief that the disparity between what tho consumer pays and what the producer receives, is much too great, it is difficult to get at the truth because of the many different classes of trade ami, the differences in the quality of the meat they sell. NEW ZEALAND LAMB.

It is not uncommon to find 'stalls selling New Zealand lamb at less than the Smithlield wholesale price. ■ Examination reveals these to be the cheaper cuts of damaged parcels of' inferior lamb. On the other hand the best cuts in the high-class shops are dear, and arouse comment. In the Midland districts, second quality lamb brings prices which are sometimes superior to the Sinithfield price for prime. It is not uncommon to see an account sale with seconds at Is and prime at lid. The suggestion is, of course, that there is something wrong with our system of grading. The fact is that certain classes of trade require certain grades of meat, and when there is any shortage they have to pay for it. One of the sources of income of the big proprietary _ concerns might, T think, be further investigated by the board. It is undesirable to have all one’s eggs in one basket at any time, and possibly the Government, through the board, would be well advised to give some encouragement to private enterprise to enable these markets to bo explored. It is a mistake to suppose that New Zealand meat has any sort of dominating position on Sinithfield Market. With the exception of our lamb, we occupy a comparatively unimportant position. Smithlield contains a great quantity of meat from most parts of the world, including—until the discovery of foot and mouth germs put . a stop to it a few weeks ago—fresh meat from abroad killed in Holland and sent across to Sinithfield as fresh-killed. MEAT BOARD.

It is unfortunate that something Is not done to amend the unpopular method of election of members of the Meat Board. It is undemocratic, and creates discontent. The jiersonnel of the board would not be weakened by a more popular system, and it* would give the producers a greater interest in affairs and silence criticism. The members of the board themselves need not be much concerned about the mode of election. The bulk of the producducers are satisfied with the board. PASTURE GRASS.

T endeavored, by discussion with authorities in various parts of North and South America, to obtain information about pasture grasses which might be of, use on our deteriorating lands in New Zealand. It is unfortunately true that wo have not found a grass which' will hold in some of our hill country, and the result has been a return to second growth and fern. I have always held the view that there are grasses in the world which are suited to almost, if not quite, such conditions as we have in New Zealand if we could only find them. We have persisted, at great expense to ourselves and loss to the dominion, in sowing English grasses bn hills which will not carry them. The University of Berkeley, one of the most important in America, has been experimenting with grasses for the hill country of California. ■ Professor Kennedy, the professor of agriculture at Bcfkoley, pins bis faith to Harding grass as one of the best. We saw it growing under natural conditions. A fine dark green, succulent grass, with a wider leaf than ryegrass, and a greater inclination to stool out. It was rapidly displacing the less vigorous English grassed in the turf, and is undoubtedly . a grass which forms a thick and vigorous sole. As a grass to keep down second growth and weeds'it is much

in favor, and is certainly worth trying in New Zealand. It is apparently a grass which does not become a nuis- • ance- under any conditions in California, and its remarkable capacity for steeling out until each root is the size of a dinner plate, gives it a “ smothering ” capacity which is very valuable. ] t will grow, seemingly on most classes of soil.

Under good conditions this grass should pasture one cow per acre per year, and sheep accordingly. . On wornout or run-down and foul land, seeding to this grass and pasturing for a few years will make a new ricii field, bringing big returns if wanted for other crops. Thus far tests have shown this grass to be equal to alfalfa as a feed, but superior as a' pasture grass, as Harding grass never and tramping of stock does not injure crowns. The growth is tender and sweet, but does not tend to wash like other tender grasses. It- gives a large flow of milk, with heavy butter-fat content, either for cows or ewes, and is also excellent for poultry and swine. A limited test for' fattening beef has given the finest of results.