GUARANTEED PRICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26352, 6 January 1947, Page 6

GUARANTEED PRICES

‘s3ir,—lt is just as well to recall that in 1935 50 per cent, of our dairy farmers ' were virtually bankrupt—the price of butterfat then was only 9Jd per lb and there was no guarantee that it might not have dropped even lower. To-day’s price is 21.6 d guaranteed for every pound of butterfat that can be produced, consequently dairy farmers are indeed prosperous. They have no marketing worries, all they have to do is to produce, so I leave it to your readers to judge whether or not the guaranteed price has brought to dairy farmers a degree of prosperity and economic security without parallel in the industry’s history. ... According to Mr J. T. Martin, chairman of directors of Wright, Stephenson, Ltd., our dairy farmers produced 12,400 more tons of butterfat in 1945 than in 1938. He remarked that this was a remarkable achievement when due allowance is made for the acute shortages of labour and fertilisers during the intervening war years. The increase would have been still greater f had not some dairy farmers, on becoming financial, turned to the more congenial sheepfarming and switched from cows to sheep. This probably helped to account for the Dominion’s 1945 sheep tally being the highest ever recorded—another remarkable achievement. Certainly no farmer should expect an employee to work consistently eight hours a day five days a week at tractor work. If he does he is looking for trouble and deserves to get it. In this connection it should be realised that tractor work, heading, mowing, etc., are all seasonable jobs that cannot be compared with a permanent year in year out job in a factory. Before the war most farmers (myself included) were against guaranteed prices for meats and wool, but after experiencing their benefits during the war years I am certain that the great majority of sheepfarmers, irrespective of which party is the Government, would to-day vote solidly for guaranteed prices, provided such prices were fixed by a tribunal similar to the one about to be set up to deal with butterfat prices. The guaranteed price is sound in principle; it has been tried out in war years and has brought temporary prosperity and security to all sheepfarmers, so is it not up to the Otago executive of Federated Farmers to cease whimpering about the 40hour week, farm subsidies, etc., and apply itself diligently to implementing this proven sheet-anchor as a permanent feature for all classes of' farming in preparation for the uncertain years ahead of farmers after 1950? —1_ am, etc., - Increased Production. January 2.