LEMON MARKETING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20068, 14 October 1939, Page 4

LEMON MARKETING

GROWERS’ PROTESTS PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE RELAXATION OF GRADING Recent efforts on the part of the officers of the Marketing Department to assuage the feelings of commercial temon-growers, roused by the application of a system of marketing which the growers regard as harsh and unprofitable from their point of view, have not been entirely successful. This is indicated by the fact that a provincial conference of lemongrowers has been convened in Auckland, and will take place on Tuesday next, with the following main headings set down for discussion:— Alteration in the grading scheme for lemons. Increased prices for growers. Loans to lemon-growers. General matters affecting growers in relation to the marketing system. A meeting of citrus growers was held in Gisborne this week, and Mr. J. C. Hardy was appointed to represent the growers of this district at the Auckland conference. He will leave for the north during the weekend. A good deal of dissatisfaction appears to have been aroused by the stiffness of the. grading system in particular, which has resulted in the average prices secured by growers sinking to an uneconomic level. The difficulty of securing a reasonable proportion of extra fancy grade, and ‘.he large proportion of lemons graded for juice, purposes only, will be discussed at. the provincial conference, and it is probable that the Minister of Marketing will be asked l p receive representations on this md other subjects vitally . affecting the citrus industry of the Dominion.