Farmers To Be Advised On Finance Available

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31098, 29 June 1966, Page 12

Farmers To Be Advised On Finance Available

The North Canterbury Agricultural Advisory Committee yesterday approved the issue of a general statement on the availability of finance for farmers and the holding of a seminar for businesses connected with farming. Mr W. N. Dunlop said the farm finance sub-committee, felt that the publicity subcommittee should issue a statement on the availability of short-term or seasonal finance for the information of farmers. Attention should be drawn to the recent statement on seasonal finance made by the Minister of Finance (Mr Lake) in which he gave an assurance that overdraft accommodation would be made available to stock and station firms to meet “reasonable demands” for seasonal finance, but urged famers to seek funds for development from long-term lending institutions.

Mr Dunlop said that people wishing to initiate development programmes should be advised first to get in touch with the State Advances Corporation. On Merits Mr M. H. Rogers, of the State Advances Corporation in Christchurch, said that the publicity sub-committee could well point out that each application for corporation finance for development rested on its merits in relation to security, economics and the personality of the applicant. The problem of seasonal finance seemed to have fallen right away or else it was being masked, said Mr R. C. Stuart, executive director of the Agricultural Production Council. Mr Stuart said that some major changes were pending on farm finance, which it would be for the Minister of Finance or the Reserve Bank to announce.

Availability of funds from the insurance companies could help out with farm purchase finance and mean that the State Advances Corporation could swing more to development, perhaps to some 80 per cent of the £2om available from this source. The finance working party of the Agricultural Production Council was seeking to integrate the public and private

lending sectors more fully, said Mr Stuart. Mr A. H. Gould, representing stock and station firms, said that the problem of stock firms was the refinancing of the hard core debt that had recently got firms into trouble, and mortgage money was pretty well impossible here.

Mr Dunlop said it had been agreed by the.farm finance sub-committee that seasonal finance should be available from traditional sources and it was felt that there was a need for seasonal finance to be defined. Since more finance had been available from the State Advances Corporation, he said it was felt that full use had not been made of marginal .lands finance in Canterbury. Seminar The committee approved a recommendation of its publicity subcommittee for the holding of a seminar on farm finance. For the subcommittee, Mr P. R. Barter said it proposed that a seminar be held with the theme of “using available finance to the best advantage of the farmer.” It was intended that it should cater for business interests such as stock and station firms, accountants, solicitors, banks and other organisations having financial interests In farms. The subcommittee was asked to make arrangements for the seminar and to submit to the main committee a draft programme for the occasion.

Mr F. L. Ward, convener of the production and statistics subcommittee, said that at the next meeting the subcommittee hoped to complete existing stock numbers on a series of farming classes or types into which it had subdivided the Norh Canterbury area.

It was hoped to make some calculations of potential for increased production in terms of stock numbers and the time involved—the time that would be taken to achieve these increases indicating areas where quickest results would be achieved. This would involve discussions on the techniques that might be used in achieving these production increases. The subcommittee was also aware that the production story in Canterbury was incomplete without reference to other forms of farm production such as cropping and small seeds, dairying, pig production and horticulture.

I It was proposed to confer ■ with people dealing with these types of production. I On the suggestion of Mr A. R. Dingwall, fields superintendent of the Department of Agriculture, Christchurch, the committee decided to advise other agricultural advisory committees in Canterbury of the type of approach being made by the production and statistics subcommittee. Statistics Mr Dunlop said there was need for the early issue of stock statistics such as for ewes put to the ram. This was particularly important in Canterbury where quotas applied to daily kills in freezing works. He said that this could be a matter of great concern in the next season with additional ewes that would have to be killed as well as the lambs if there was a dry period in November. In this case there would have to be a substantial increase in the quotas. Mr Stuart said that by the season after next there could be 5 million more lambs.