Setting Forth The Farmer’s Viewpoint

Northern Advocate, 25 June 1946, Page 2

Setting Forth The Farmer’s Viewpoint

i’.lhis is the first ol a series of articles by "John Farmer" addressed to townsmen, setting out the agriculturist's outlook.! Cl late it seems that you and I have not been as friendly as we should be. Maybe that's my fault, for I'm prone to quick .judgments and hasty conclusions—l have to be. in meeting the vagaries of nature and of an urbanminded Government.

Y,our Saturday morning period of rest, for instance, idles me rather. My cows and pigs won't conform to acts of Parliament. They ensure for me a steady seven-day grind. When 1 growl, however. you. of course, merely shrug your shoulders and laugh: "T ho cocky is never happy unless he's growling." You think that I'm well off with mv guaranteed prices and subsidies. But 1 subsidise your purchases, don't forget. Mr F. P. Walsh said that J helped to the extent of nearly £6.000.000 annually. You know, of course, about the present world food shortage. You know that we farmers have been asked by the Government, and have agreed to do our best, to produce more food than ever before. And we'll do our darndest to fulfil the promise we have given. LIMIT TO PRODUCTION But do you realise that there's a very real limit to New Zealand's production potential? New Zealand is not really the possessor of as much natural wealth as many people seem to believe.

This is a country essentially of grassland farming. The total area of the country is. roughly, 66,0110.000 acres, of which there is in occupation some 42.000,000 acres. Cut of that there are about 10.000,000 acres of high naturally or artificially induced fertility. That leaves 32.000.0000 acres. 32,500.000 to be exact, as the total occupied area of grasslands. Now. let us analyse the disposition of those 32.500,000 acres. In the North Island. 3.300.000 o! them are dairy farm lands, although in the South Island only 500,000 acres are devoted to dairying. There goes. then. 3,800.000 of our 32.500,000 acres. We have boasted for years in New Zealand of our fat iamb production. Weil, our fat lamb industry is located on only 2,500.000 acres in the North Island and 2.350.000 acres in the South Island. Consequently our dairying export wealth and our fat lamb export trade all comes directly from 8.000.000 acres of our total of 32.500.000 acres of grassland. INFERIOR LANDS What, then, of the rest? In the South Island there is a fairly large area of low country on which little, fattening is carried—l.4oo.ooo acres, actually, of store-sheep country. The rest, 22.800,000 acres throughout the whole of the Dominion, is hill country. It. is second and third-class land. 8,000.000 acres of it in the North Island and 14.500,000 acres in the South Island. No, it's not rich land at all. Jt is just store sheep and breeding owe country.

Here is cm analysis of that hill country. Two million acres in the North Island carry about three sheep to the acre. If top-dressed, another 2,750,000 acres can carry about li| sheep to the acre. But the rest, 3,250,000 acres, is steep country impossible to topdress, unless from the air. and it carries only about 1] sheep to the acre. There, then, goes our 8.000.000 acres of North Island hill country—as i said, second and third-class land and. unfortunately, rapidly deteriorating.

Turn now to the South Island, with its 14.500,000 acres of hill or high country. Ten million acres are tussock lands and can carry only one sheep to lour acres. The rest, 4,500.000 acres, also of tussock, bi t of better quality, can carry about I', sheep to tire acre. When we farmers are asked to produce more and more, you can surely then see our problem. From what type of land can we get the increase? Our annual farm production is about £100.000.000 in value. .Of that, over £80.000.000 comes from the dairying and low country areas. Surely that's intensive production! Cur real potential must, therefore. be the poorer land, now producing only about £12,000.000 to £15,000.000. And therein lies cur major problem, one we can discuss later.