PRIMARY PRODUCTION.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18350, 9 June 1931, Page 10

PRIMARY PRODUCTION.

THE INDUSTRIES’ NEEDS. SEVERAL ESSENTIAL MATTERS. i I AM EDITORIAL OPINION. Producers from one end of the Dominion to the other now realise that the cheese industry has a heavy task ahead in regaining the quality standard anU rehabilitating Mew Zealand cheese in the esteem of the British buying public (says the Mew Zealan! Dairy Export Producer for May in a leading article).- It is true that we still produce much cheese of admirable quality, well suited to English needs, but we have been making even larger quantities of Inferior cheese which has dragged down the price fo" the whole of our output. While It is admitted that a “standardised” cheese can be made equal in both quality and fat content to “full cream” cheese made from low-testing milk, we have all along expressed the view that prejudice in England would militate against its success, a view which is now accepted, we think, by the bulk of the industry. At the National Dairy Association’s Conference next month cheese questions will be fully debated, and it is desirable that all attending should have a clear picture of the cheese industry as it was, and is. We therefore specially commend to readers the three principal articles in this issue, which cover the history of the cheese industry during recent years, the quality improvement that would lead to production of better cheese and the findings of the technical committee which recently delved thoroughly into the problem. Tills information has a value to all producers, for although our butter is in a relatively satisfactory position, many of the farm improvements suggested as being necessary in connection with cheese are equally desirable for the production of better-quality cream. Marketing Methods. The course of the market In both butter and cheese continues to demonstrate the need for more order and system in our marketing methods While producers appreciate that their produce could not escape the general decline of the price level, there Is still an uneasy feeling that they are paying a special penalty for unbusinesslike allocation of supplies in New Zealand and lack of proper direction in marketing efforts. The “quick quitters” have had an untrammelled hand, and some authorities whose opinions are of weight hold that they have cost New Zealand an average of 10s a cwt throughout the past season. In New Zealand the multicplicity of agents soliciting business, and the relatively small parcels secured by some, have made the cost of securing outputs in some cases exceed the commissions earned in London. For this reason it is not unlikely that some London firms think with regret of the principle of proportionate allocations sacrificed some years ago. Amongst agents themselves there is now talk of consolidation, with a view to reducing expenses and concentrating business in fewer hands. This IS paralleled amongst producers by keener attention to the possibility of group marketing. The pincers of economic stress are thus forcing consolidation on both sides. Consolidation Essential.

The working farmer has no margin to-day for waste, and we predict the development of irresistible pressure from the ranks of farmers forcing consolidation in ' factory costs, managerial direction, and in marketing enterprise. The heads that may be threatened by this process may hold back the tide for a while, but it will be at the cost of the best interests of those whom they should place first. Good roads and better transport make some factories superfluous to-day. The cheapest course is to scrap the capital involved and gain by manufacturing in bigger units. In marketing, small outputs are lost under to-day’s conditions. Pooling in groups is the first remedy, to save not only in commissions, but in marketing production and a broadened outlet. The industry was warned in good time of the need of preparing for these bad times. Now that the evil is upon us prompt action is imperative. Directors everywhere, we believe, are stirred with the wish to do something; but what? National leadership is needed as never before. The first step to achieving that is a chastening of the spirit, and preparedness to enter all discussion with a single eye upon the national good, regardless of provincial and individual jealousies. The coalescing influence, wherever it manifests itself, should be encouraged; the bigger units- and groups become the greater is the intelligence developed in their administration, and the sooner will directors of that type find themselves able to envisage ever bigger moves and bigger consolidations. Our conception in urging consolidation, it may be well to say in order to anticipate objection, does not contemplate a “controlled” market, but simply an effort to systematise marketing in a business-like way. Departmental Chango Needed. In a time when, for economy’s sake, many highly efficient' officers are beine forced out of the Civil Service long before the normal period, we have the extraordinary position of the Agricultural Department stilt being controlled by a man well over the official retiring age. This would not matter if farmers were satisfied that the department is run efficiently, but from one end of the country to the other there is widespread dissatisfaction, and at several meetings farmers have made strong personal criticism of Its controlling head. The record of the Agricultural Department during recent years, with the notable exception of the •Fields Department, is not one or progress, but rather the reverse. It lias, for instance, long sadly lacked the services of a first-class pathologist to give some light and standing to" its scientific work, which in many respects lias been a laughing-stock. The Direcior-General, prior to his recent trip abroad, was authorised to obtain a first-class man at a salary up to it 1500 a year, but failed to do so. Why? Meantime stock diseases continue to lake toll of our dairy herds. A few departmental officers, mostly lacking special qualifications, were set apart for investigational work, out even ttiat programme was interrupted by transfers and promotions regardless of knowledge acquired. It, would lie ludicrous, were it not so serious. The department is still pottering round with tests of mammitis vaccine, to mention only one point, after neglecting an opportunity available to it years ago. There is call, 100, for energetic aclion in regard lo contagions abortion, as in oilier phases of slock disease. Wbal is wattled is a thorough reorganisation of the department, and that iGontwuod iu next cclumu.j.

will come only when a young, keen and capable man is appointed as l.s administrator. The times demand action, and not limpet-like inaction. We have urged this course before, and do not hesitate to claim that the position in which farmers find themselves to-day justifies our warnings in the past. Herd Testing. Herd testing unquestionably offers the dairy farmer the greatest aid in reducing production costs. By it he can profit fully from top-dressing and rotational grazing. It is really not a cost, but an investment. While we hope sincerely the Government will be able to increase its subsidy, we urge farmers in the event of failure to face even drastic steps to carry the work on, for by it Die surest foundation is building for future prosperity.