PRODUCTION MUST RISE, BAY FARMER CONSIDERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 91, 4 September 1950, Page 4

PRODUCTION MUST RISE, BAY FARMER CONSIDERS

That increased production in ratio to labour and other costs was the only means by which the dairy, industry could avert a crisis, minor' or otherwise, was the view expressed by a leading farmer in the Eastern Bay of Plenty on Friday. He had been asked to comment on the new guaranteed price for butter. A guaranteed price which is calculated to provide 29.678 d per lb of butterfat to the supplier for the 1950-51 export season, which began on August, 1, was announced by the chairman of the-'New Zealand Dairy Products Marketing Commission, Mr W. Marshal, at the annual con-' ference of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The usual differential of 2d per lb butterfat is allowed for cheese. The new price represents a rise of 1.434 d on the figure of 28.244 d alowed for the period of last season from August 1, 1949, to Anril 30, 1950. The higher price shows an increase in terms of butterfat of 0.706 d per lb on the retorspective amount granted for the period from May 1 to July 31, 1950, and covers increased farm working and maintenance costs. The rise is equivalent to an additional 12s Id a cwt in the price the commission will pay the dairy factories for butter, and 6s 7d a cwt for cheese. For the first time in 13 years, he said, export receipts would be less than the payout. While this differ-

' ence would be only about £175,000 in the present season, preserves could become depleted quickly if further increases in costs meant further rises in the guaranteed price without recompense from overseas. With costs tending to increase all the time, only by increased efficiency, with consequent could the industry hope to avert greater inroads into reserves. It should not be necessary, he thought, for such inroads to be made at a time of great demand in Britain for New Zealand produce but the refusal of the British Ministry of Food to pay more for butter and cheese had brought this uneconomic state of affairs into being. The increase made in the guaranteed price had been expected, he said, and it went a fair way towards compensating farmers for what farming cost them. To some extent also local dairy factories would be helped towards stabilising their economy as a result of the higher price.