“UNCHARTED WATERS”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29506, 6 May 1961, Page 7

“UNCHARTED WATERS”

In two addresses to farmers in the Ashburton district in the last fortnight, Mr H. E. Garrett, reader in farm management at Canterbury Agricultural College, has spoken about the outlook for New Zealand farm produce. In both he emphasised the very considerable importance to New Zealand farming of the possibility of Britain joining the European Common Market. At a field day held by the Ashburton branch of Federated Farmers he said that economists in this country seemed to think that Britain would join within the next 12 months. For New Zealand this meant moving into what he described as “uncharted waters." Mr Garrett said that countries in Western Europe had quotas on the importation of agricultural produce to protect their own farmers and while New Zealand might urge these countries to allow freer access for our produce this country with its sheltered internal policies had quotas on the importation of the goods that the West European countries produced for export. This was the problem that New Zealand might soon be called on to resolve. Because wool is already traded internationally he forecast that British entry into the E.E.C. was not likely to affect it greatly and the same position applied to lamb as Britain was the main consumer, but the dairy industry could be on the rocks. “I think the outlook for our 40.000 dairy farmers is distinctly weak under these circumstances,’ ’ Mr Garrett told members of the Lauriston Farm Improvement Club this week.