THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Southland Times, Issue 19101, 20 November 1923, Page 5

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

SEASON’S PROSPECTS GOOD MINISTER STRESSES TWO POINTS “QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY.” (Special to the Times.) WELLINGTON, November 19. “The general agricultural and pastoral position may be described as good with market prospects encouraging for most of our main products,” stated the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Nosworthy) to-day. “New Zealand is fortunate in that the unsettled condition in Europe and unemployment in Britain have not reacted to a greater extent on our export trad®. Nevertheless, with increasing competition or a more restricted demand in the world’s markets, the factors of quality in the produce and efficiency in production (keeping down costs) are becoming more and more essential. Especially is this the case with perishable foodstuffs, such as butter, cheese and meat. The new dairy season is now getting into full stride. Owing to the comparatively severe winter, the average production per cow is not expected to quite equal that of last season, but any such deficiency should be made up by the increased number of cows milked this year. Given good fair weather conditions for pasture production, the output should be much on a par with that of 1923-23. While the grading statistics for the first three months of the season (AugustOctober) showed a slight falling off in quantity, the October figures indicated a recovering tendency.