“SKILLED WAY OF LIFE”

Opunake Times, 27 August 1948, Page 3

“SKILLED WAY OF LIFE”

MODERN FARMING EXPERT VIEWPOINT “Farming is now a skilled way of life, and those who are not skilled must experience hard living,” declared Mr. C. V. -lanes, an economist, at the New South Wales Agricultural Bureau conference at Hawkesbury College. The new status,of the farmer, he said, was business nnd professional. Gone were the clodhoppers and hayseeds. “Success in farming is becoming more and more dependent on brains, and less on brawn. Farms no longer are dumping-grounds for intellectual duds. Of all occupations today, that of winning from the soil is the most exacting and exasperating, yet the most profitable if scientifically conducted. An up-to-date farm m many respects is like a scientific laboratory, and requires for its successful functioning much the same type of personal application as is needed' in a scientific workshop. “Skill necessarily brings its just reward in. profit. Unskilled farmers must fall by the wayside. Wide-awake farmers give enthusiastic support to educational extension projects; and are ever ready to- enlist the services of experts. No farmer is justified in feeling satisfied unless he regularly takes refresher courses. I have no condemnation strong enough for the attitude of any farmer who wants to be pitied, or who is apologetic about his calling.’?