FARM TOPICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25054, 18 November 1944, Page 5

FARM TOPICS

BKITISH AGBICULTUEE WAR COMMITTEES' SUCCESS Much of the credit for the revolution that has taken place in British agriculture as a result of the war is given to Britain's County War Agricultural Executives. From pre-war neglect these committees have been largely responsible for bringing British production to such a pitch that farming in England and Wales now supplies Britain's food for five days a week. There are 62 committees, 0110 in each county, and each composed of from eight to 12 unpaid members, who are chiefly practical farmers. With the committee sits the chief executive officer, who is n technical expert, and the land commissioner, the former as the principal officer of the committee and the latter os the Ministry of Agriculture's technical advisor. Decentralised Authority The committees in some ways resemble the New Zealand district primary production councils, but differ ia the important aspect of authority. Whereas the New Zealand district councils are largely under the direct control of the National Primary Production Council in Wellington, to which recommendations only may be made, the British committees have important executive powers to deal direct with farmers. The British committees even have the power of dispossession, with, of course, adequate safeguards through the Minister of Agriculture. While this power has been attacked by the more vociferous defenders of British liberties, that the situation is not as bad us some critics would have the public believe is shown by the fart that up to August last 2601 fanners had been removed from an acreage <>f '2I I .-117 acres, or about, one per cent of the whole area under cultivation in England and Wales. Machines do the Work

Members of the British committees discuss projected work with farmers on the [arm. Tliev ask for more land to be ploughed. Mechanised excavators are sent in to clean ditches in record time. Drainage trenches are dug by the committee's machines and after field tiles are laid an angle-dozer fills in the drain. The result of this is that British land which was so poor that farmers once fed their rl#iry cows on imported foodstuffs now grows a surplus. r I he.se operations have required wide organisation and to overcome some of the difficulties faced, some, British committees have set up their own machinery organisation with their own repair shops. Every job is inspected and the cost calculated by the committee. If the farmer had no labour to do the job then the committee contracted to do it for him, the agreed price being met by the farmer paying half and the Government half. Crop direction is another responsibility undertaken. Capital Cost Bearing Profits

The scheme would not be British if it had not been subjected to criticisms, but, according to Michael Mason, writing in Parade, much of the criticism of the committees' expenditure is unfairly based on gross* and not net expenditure. The capital costs involved in putting good land back into good heart are great, and uneconomical in the sense that no individual farmer could take on the job. But the fact remains that the capital cost put into that land is now bearing profits as well as making a substantial contribution to the national larder, says Mr Mason. By and large, British farmers have accepted the policy of decentralised control. It has given them a security they formerly lacked. More than any present trouble with "bureaucracy" it is the post-war years which bother the farmers. They have seen the results they have been able to achieve in wartime, due in 110 small part to planning. They do not want to sink back into the prewar doldrums. Co-operative Machinery Foreshadowed Something of the shape of post-war farming in Britain has been envisaged by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Hudson, when he said some time back: "Many small farmers would have two alternatives after the war. Either the farms would have to be amalgamated with adjoining farms to form larger and more economic units, a solution I do not wish to see; or in order to take advantage of mechanisation they would have to join some co-operative scheme for the purchase and joint use of machinery." In the meantime the British Government as part of the four-year plan for agriculture has guaranteed producers for the next four years price levels not below those at present prevailing. MORE PEOPLE ON THE LAND DOMINION'S EXPORT OPENINGS A vision of New Zealand's agricultural future as it could be, with cangenial work for more people on the land, was described bv the principal of Massey Agricultural College, Professor G. S. Peren, in a recent talk. He based his hopes for the future on comprehensive land-improvement schemes, including drainage, through the use of labour-saving devices and big machinery handled 011 a co-operative basis. Land improvement would encourage people back to the more healthy and natural life of the countryside, said Professor Peren. Production 011 extensive areas with a clay subsoil could be improved by at least .'SO per cent through mole drainage, while big tiledrainage schemes would improve other types of soil. In drainage plans, especially, it was necessary to look beyond individual farms to the countryside as n whole. Economies were effected and drudgery largely eliminated when crops were grown on a scale big enough to warrant the use of most modern implements. Machines used by a large Hawke's Bay cannery 'harvested the pea crop in bqlk, and girls earning good wages then collected the pods in comparative comfort. Two hundred acres was the usual area for asparagus, which was cut up by factory methods prior to canning. New Zealand, which in many respects had led the pre-war agricultural world, was now slow to learn from those countries which the impact of war had forced ahead of her. With the further development of her polity soils there should be no need for the Dominion to import onions or celery. It was not generally known that New Zealand exported thousands of pounds| worth of bulbs and plants to Australia, where propagation was didicult in the dry climate. Openings in the horticultural export trade were becoming more and more apparent to those with commercial vision, exercise of which should result in New Zealand growing all the camelius, tulips, rhododendrons and ericas for Australia and even further afield.