BRITISH FARMING

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 February 1947, Page 5

BRITISH FARMING

FUTURE STILL CONSIDERED UNCERTAIN QUESTION OF- MARKETS [N.Z.P.A. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT! (Rec. 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 3. The future of British agriculture is still unsettled, in spite of the- Agricultural Bill gaining wide approval both within the industry and in Parliament, states The Observer. The bill, the paper continues, does not settle what will be the future size or shape of British agriculture. “The bill assures farmers of guaranteed prices, fixed well in advance, but the farmers are uneasy that it makes no mention of the size of the market for the different commodities which will be assured to them. over, agricultural policy is closely bound up with Britain’s trading future. The extent to which food production in Britain should be integrated with food production overseas, and especially in the Dominions, has not been faced. “Britain’s resources of foreign exchange are so scarce that it is clearly necessary to keep down to a minimum expenditure on imports of food.' This position is not likely to change with time. It does not follow that the best way to realise this aim is to offer a guaranteed market for everything the British farmer is willing to produce. It is meat, eggs and dairy products which cost the most to import and there is ample scope for extending their production inside Britain.

The Observer also remarks that a clear statement: on the long-term targets at which agriculture should aim would give much-needed confidence to the farmers.