THE FARMER'S PROFITS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 160, 1 April 1919, Page 8

THE FARMER'S PROFITS

'• ..."ifc:.never Boems to occur to the Government that potatoes compriso a very small proportion of the cost of producing bread, or that in nenrly all manufactures of foodstuffs and clothing tho • chief factor in increasing pi'iees is labour and tlio middleman's profit," says the "Farmers' Union Advocate," in tho crarse of a protest ,ng.unst the embargo on the• export ot potatoes. "Wheat, is probably an exception to this, and it ".xriusfc bo. remembered that wheat growis a-very largo user of labour before Utiwv. grain • reaches the niaiiufapt'uriiiK ( '«tato.,. One.has only to look at a few of ;.,the. increases to realise how little the •• farmer sets out of them. If we take wool, tho farmer' gets perhaps Is. fid. ont of a suit of clothes, .though the price has risen .£2 or ,C 3. Of tho increase in the price of boots tho farmer Kots Is. to Is. Gd, on his hides, though boots havo risen from 10s. to 15s. a pair. I'or meat tho farmers actually get less than they did in pre-war days, but the retail price has risen by 2d. or 3d. per Ticund.' -■ For-butter the producer obtains a higher pries, which nearly all goes in heavier costs of production, and _o,i' top of that ho lias to provide an equalisation fund to give tho consumer - liis butter at about lid. per pound below its market value. Even if tlio whole price of ,£l7 10s. a ton for potatoes were added to the baker's cost it would not . exceed a farthinj on a. 41b. loaf, which -fays very little, for tho valuo of tho • evidence on which the Minister relies to justify his embargo."