U.K. Minister of Agriculture in N.Z.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 99, Issue 5, 16 November 1959, Page 471

U.K. Minister of Agriculture in N.Z.

THE United Kingdom Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Hare, was in New Zealand for about a fortnight in August and September at the invitation of the New Zealand Government. He is shown above (second from left) at the Department of Agriculture's Ruakura Animal Research Station. Behind him is Mr W. E. Jones, Deputy Director of the National Agricultural Advisory Service, Great Britain. On his right is Dr C. P. McMeekan, Superintendent, Ruakura, and on his left Mr P. W. Smallfield, Director-General of Agriculture, and Dr L. R. Wallace, Senior Principal Scientific Officer, Ruakura.

THE first British Minister holding the portfolio of Agriculture to visit this country, Mr Hare had discussions with the Prime Minister, Mr Nash, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Skinner, and visited farms, agricultural research institutions, agricultural colleges, meat works, and • dairy factories in both islands. Mr Hare has a mixed farm in East Anglia on which he runs a Guernsey dairy herd and pigs and does some cropping. “I came here to learn”, he told S Press conference in Wellington toward the end of his visit, “and I have had a valuable and instructive time. . . . I have certainly learnt a great deal”. Practical Research Impressions commented on by Mr Hare were: Our getting, in New Zealand, three months’ more use out of grass than was general in the United Kingdom;

The extent to which New Zealand had made use of “problem” soils; the way in which deficiencies had been determined, corrected by the use of minor elements, and the land brought into production; The very important factors, in our use of grass, of regular topdressing and controlled rotational grazing; “I saw graphically illustrated at Ruakura and on farms I visited what controlled rotational grazing can do,” said Mr Hare. “We are not unfamiliar with the practice at Home, but I have not generally seen it work as well as it does here. “I was particularly impressed with the practical application of science at Ruakura, where all work is being carried out on small farm units so that the scientific and practical are being studied at once. New Zealand is well served by its agricultural scientists and teaching colleges. Extension services seem to be disseminating widely the knowledge arising

from research into how to farm grass, and a lot of your leading farmers seem determined to apply the proven principles”.

Interest in the possibilities of our system of lime pelleting of seed in the regrassing of Welsh hill country was expressed by Mr Hare. He was struck, too, by the great advances made in bloat control to the stage where there was in commercial manufacture a product that could be sprayed on pastures. Marketing Problems In referring to the problem of how New Zealand could deal with the increasing production she was going to get from the application of improved techniques, Mr Hare said there was “a limit to the amount of lamb we can eat at Home,” and if he were farming in New Zealand he would be tempted to increase the ratio of beef to sheep, as the market for beef in the United Kingdom that meant high-quality chilled beef—could be built up. Expressing appreciation of the opportunity to return visits made by New Zealand Ministers of Agriculture to Britain, Mr Hare said there was undoubted value to be got from authorities from the two countries getting together to discuss problems of price fluctuations, particularly for dairy produce. “Butter is one of the most difficult commodities”, he said. “I don’t think a managed market would work, and I don’t think it would j be in the interest of the New Zealand producer. The United Kingdom still has the ‘blunt instrument’ of its anti-dumping laws. There is a danger that butter prices might go too high and the New Zealand dairy industry lose customers. Hence the United Kingdom’s recent liberalising of - her attitude to American butter imports in an attempt to stabilise the market”. The increasing need for market research was emphasised by Mr Hare. The feeling seemed to be widespread that there should be sustained and increased inquiry into the reasons for consumers’ demand for certain products and why they were prepared to pay higher prices for some lines than for others. Such research could have an important bearing on success in marketing increased production.