ORGANISING AGRICULTURE

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 10

ORGANISING AGRICULTURE

In view of the recognised fact that the primary industries constitute the keystone of the country’s stability and prosperity, it is manifestly of the greatest importance that farming should be made to pay, as well as life in the country in respect to facilities and utilities being made as pleasant as in the cities. The drift of population, indeed, should be from the city outwards, instead of citywards. When matters are going well little heed is taken about economies and fundamentals. To-day, however, it was different. The profits of the last few years derived from farming have fallen far ; short of popular assumption, a,though | relatively they were generous. To-day j farmers are up against “it.” Economic j developments not anticipated in the conii paratively prosperous years after 1915 j decree for farmers a life of strict selfrestraint in money matters. Yet if the markets and other things are against him, ! as is the case at present, he need not ! despair. The lesson to be learned from the present crisis is the importance of cultivating self-dependence. Farmers by acting in unison are a power in the land, and the best use, we believe, they can make of their powers is to co-operate—-i to close their ranks before they are ! swamped in the commercial struggle now | begun. The farmers’ delegates now on j tour in the South Island cannot fail to | do good work, and the New Zealand i Farmers’ Union must he congratulated on having such enthusiastic, capable men interested in the farming industry. At the recent meeting in Dunedin Mr W. J. Poison (Dominion president of the Farmers’ Union) and Captain F. Colbeck (Dominion vice-president) spoke on a number of matters of concern to farmers. The president pointed out that the foremost plank in the Farmers’ Union platform was co-operation, which, he explained, typified the co-operative handling of primary products, co-operative shipping and marketing, and necessarily the “skying” of middlemen; and, finally, such banking facilities as would assure cheaper and more liquid finance. As the speaker put it: “Dairy factories and freezing companies must be co-operative, and end the ‘ rotten ’ system now omployed of selling their products c.i.f. The c.i.f. system was the bane of the producers’ existence in this country. It meant handing over their goods to someone else to do what he liked with. It was the middleman’s system, and it should be abolished.” The shipping question was admittedly a knotty one owing to vested interests ; but farmers’ organisations must keep hammering away. The speaker recited his own experiences in marketing on a consignment basis, and maintained that ornamental middlemen should ho done away. The question of finance deserved the closest consideration, and in fanners’ agricultural banks one perceives the solution. It was urged that a commission slioufd be set up to go into the matter ancT report on the systems which had proved so successful in other conntries. A clear ease was made out in respect to farmers having the worst of the deal in the marketing of wool, meat, and butter, and it was shown that the only way out of the ditch was for farmers - to organise. They as a body bad no objection to organised labour (only that the extreme section should be headed off), as they were proposing to organise themselves ; but bad no time for compulsory unionism. In conclusion, Mr Poison pilloried the Government's methods, or, rathe)-, ideas, of reducing expenditure in the name of retrenchment in the Government departments. They would not I deceive a tame cat. In Captain Colbeck’s | address (vice-president of the union) he j came to grips with three factors incurred

in the cost of an article, realising that no marketing scheme was worth much if the costs of producing were greater than the price at the final port; these factors being (1) the cost of the raw material, (2) cost of labour, and (3) the profit. He showed that relatively these were out of all reason, and farmers were blind to their own interests to allow matters to jog along anyhow. Working together, it should be possible for farmers to “deliver the goods” to consumers, subject to minimum charges and with satisfaction to producers and employees. It is certain that if there is to be success in the producing and distribution of staple products there must- be loyal support from members. The co-operative movement can only .succeed if this fundamental principle is recognised and observed. Farmers must take a hand in the marketing of their products in the present state of industry ‘to avert serious financial disaster. Prices of -all products have fallen alarmingly, and the industry is imperilled if matters do not improve, or, in the alternative, reduce the cost of production. The losses from farming at the present moment are beyond the ordinary citizen’s comprehension, and ruin of many farmers will only be prevented by some such joint action as proposed. The secret of success may not be far removed from the closeness of business relations between consumers and producers. The trader is entitled to a margin commensurate with his services and risks; but one trader between producer and consumer methinks is enough—not, as Tn some cases, a score, more or less. The farmer as an individual can do little to help his position; real strength comes from unity of action, and no industry is in greater need of such than farming. The position has been clearly put before farmers’ delegates, and it*' is “up to them” to make others realise that this is the time to co-operate and organise agriculture for the benefit of producers and 'consumers.