ASSISTING FARMERS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3761, 27 May 1936, Page 5

ASSISTING FARMERS

GOVERNMENT’S FUTURE POLICY OUTLINED.

SUGGESTIONS FROM MINISTER.

Stating his intention to make the Department of Agriculture a far more vital force in the agricultural development of the country than it had ever been, the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin) when he visited Hamilton yesterday, outlined his plans. “The Department of Agriculture represents the organisation whereby the practical application of my policy as Minister of Agriculture can be expressed,” stated the Minister. “In its new director, Mr A. H. Cockayne, 1 have a directing officer who possesses a many angled experience on the needs of the farmer, and I intend to give him reasonable scope for progressive development. The Government's policy is reasonable reward to all who give service to the country, and the service that the farmer renders is to be adequately rewarded. The policy of guaranteed prices, that will return a reasonably good standard of living to the farmer who renders efficient service in the production of quality goods, will be his safeguard in this direction. But I have said the farmer who is efficient. Efficiency in production must be based on sound and progressive practice, which owed its origin to research, investigation and experience, all properly interpreted into farming method.

“The vision of the department is to be directed on the real heeds of the farming community rather than into bureaucratic channels that only lead to inflexibility of thought and action. Perhaps the most serious factor in the lowering of efficiency is what one may terjn the farm leakages, and of these, inferiority of quality is perhaps the most serious, not alone in the finished product but in all the factors that lead to its production, crops, stock, methods of management, at times the farmer himself, and not .infrequently the department itself LOSS THROUGH DISEASE. “Co-operation in research, instruction and application will do much to shut oh these leakages, and the department is to be properly organised to play its part. Livestock disease, both organic and otherwise, represent a leakage that is tending to expand rather than contract. Their effect runs into millions rather than thousands of pounds annually, and organised effort on the part of the department towards shutting off this leakage must be developed on a far more intensive scale than at present. This disease loss is not merely a matter for the veterinarian alone, but involves many other specialist angles, which only emphasises the necessity of cooperative and co-ordinated effort.”

There were many stock diseases that had to be dealt with by veterinarians alone, but there were others, many of the ailments in pigs, for instance, whieh resulted in the lessening of carcase value by over 20 per cent, which were preventable by the farmer himself, added the Minister. Sound advice and its application was the remedy, and the application would follow it the advice were sound and specific, which was only another way of saying that the farmer was responsive if the urge were made. That urge was going to be made. Many stock ailments, however, could only be remedied by the veterinarian himself, and organised effort in that direction often necessitated State assistance.

“I am seriously considering how best this can be brought about,” the Minister said. “To show what can be done with a disease beyond the farmer’s control, tuberculosis in cattle in the United States might be mentioned. I have recently seen a letter from a visiting New Zealander, who states that in many of the States the extent of the disease has now been reduced by concerted action to below half per cent, and in New Zealand we compensate each year for a greater percentage without any progressive diminution in the disease. COMBATTING RAGWORT. “Another leakage that must be checked is that caused by noxious weeds. Ragwort is, perhaps, the most significant to the Waikato farmer, but there are others. The Noxious Weeds Act has been in operation nearly 40 years, and has completely failed in its objective, some say because its provisions are not adequately administered; but one feels that it represents an excellent example of regulation preceding rather than following adequate knowledge of how best weeds should be controlled, with the inevitable consequence of inflexibility of action. The weed menace is one on which the Department must bring fresh thought and fresh energy. "Diversity in production is another factor of prime importance in our future agricultural progress, and my department intends to widen its outlook in this direction. In one phase alone, that of pig products, much remains to be accomplished. This year the pig has, on the average, added Id per lb to the butter fat payment. Under proper development it can raise this figure to 2d or even 3d. Reasonable management is essential, but essential in its adoption is co-ordinat-ed direction and the department is determined to assume real leadership in the industry. “Here again, the need for co-opera-tion in thought and action is obvious. Even now, with the industry only in its infancy, the leakages are widespread inferior quality, inferior management, and the undue prevalence of disease. All these must be stopped if the industry is to progress to the point it should,” be added.