Dairying Survey

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 27, 16 February 1937, Page 10

Dairying Survey

HOME CONDrTIONS Britain Will Still Buy More Butfer RECIPROCITY NEEDED "The quality of our £airy produce selling in the United Kingdom is very good. While there are a number of parcels which could be materially improved, our butter and cheese on the average enjoys an excellent reputation," declared Professor W. Riddet, director of the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute at Massey College, who returned to Palmerston North last evening from a 12 months' trip overseas. His tour was made partly On a Carnegie Corporation grant, partly with the assistance of a subsidy from the Government, and partly with a subsidy from the Dairy Produce Board and the Meat Board. "Whereas some years ago exception was frequently taken to the quality of our cheese, these objections have now ; largely disappeaTed,77 stated Professor Riddet, "because of improvements whieh have been made. "However, we must not for one moment rest on our oars. Competitition for the sale of dairy products in Great Britain is very keen, and the supply so great as to make it practically a buyers7 market. There is no second grade produce, really speaking, sold in the United Kingdom. There ttre several degrees of good. We. cannot afford to take anything hut a leading part in the market. Many countries are quickly reaching our standards, and we must not on any account allow them to pass us. Don't Ape Oohtinent. "It is gratifying that New Zealand butter is selling in inereasing quan'tities in the north of England and in Scotland, a market fonnerly monopolised by Continental brands of butter.' It is not that we are supplanting Continental suppliers but that butter is being used by people who formerly used margarine. We have an opportunity of extending our output to that market. 'In the past it has been urged that we should simulate Continental packing styles and butter types for the northern market, but to do that to-day would be a mistake as people have become accustomed to out own distinctive package and blend. "So long as w« keep quality and marketing up to standard, we need not fear four our produce on this market," declared Professor Riddet. "The United Kingdom demand for butter is inereasing. A few years ago we were told that if the gross import of butter into Great Britain reached 500,000 tons we would be selling there at next to nothing. Last year the imports reached 480,000 tons and yet prices were higher than for the previous year. We have not yet reached the limit of consumptiou in Britain; many people can he educated to eat more butter than they do now. This aspect is being ?tressod by the leaders of the movement towards better nutrition. They are encouraging the people to eat the best health-promoting foods, and butter and qheese are included in that cate•gory. "It must be remembered that so long as we expect to expand the .market, we cannot hope for any great rise in price.' If production is held to a price level of about ls a pound in London, we need fear no great diminution of demand. "If the price is raised too high, it will place butter beyond the 4onsumptive reach of the masses of the people. It must also be remembered that so 5 long as" the price is maintained at about ils a pound, there ar'e no countries in 't'he world better fitted to supply the. market than are New Zealand and Auatralia. Many Continental countries would find it diffieult to sell eeonomically at that level. A Nuffield Gesture, "It cannot be over-emphasised that if we hope to find an expanding market in Great Britain we can do so only by affording in our own country marketa for British goods. Ifc behoves us more thau ever to support tho buyers of our produce. "The advantage of reclprocal trade is demonstrated by the fact that the 30,000 cmployees of the great Morris motot works now use New Zealand hutter almost exclusively. "Reciprocal trade is to-day the surest way of conservicg aud consolidatmg the strength of tho Empire, and is thus the sure3t. way of building for ipeace." A Market for Bacon. Discussing New Zealand 's trade with. Great Britain in pig products, Professor Riddet said that in the past two .years that trade had • been largely in porkers. "Oud pork was highly regarded in the United Kingdom on account of its quality,. which was second only to that of the British pork, which. had the advantage of freshness. We could never expect to overcome that. advantage. 7 7 New Zealand bacon did not have the| same fine reputation as pork. "This is! ;a question to which bacon producersi j jmust give their attention. There is an ' jabsolute need for the enforcement of I ;grading standards at least as exacting | as those employed by rival producing ! 'countries on the Continent. If we are 1 :to expand our pig exports to Britain it must be by inereasing the number of baconers sent. Last year we enjoyed the advantages resulting from a reduction of the number of pigs in th« . United States, which formerly seut ! large supplies to Great Britain. Wt

[cannot expect that advantage to be permanent; as the pig population of the 'United States increases those exports (will be restored." A Hard Hit Continent. . The traveller was of the firm opinion that of the eountries visited on tho Continent which are ooncerned with the primary export trade, every one had sufEered more drastically from the dapression than New Zealand, despite the great losses of Dominion farmers. They had suffered from a severe loss of their 'markets in such countries as France, 'Germany, Belgium and at. thp same Itime were victims of the import duty jof 15s per cwt. on dairy produce, and jof the quota system as applied to pig [products. Even to-day, although the ifarmers of these countries had mad® jstrenuous attempts to reduce producing [costs in sympathy -with market prices, 'they were still on a basis that did not .compare favourably with that of prim:ary producers in New Zealand. In the terms of the Carnegie grant, 'Professor Riddet travelled extensively in the United States. Landing in Cajnada, he proceeded to San Francisco, (visiting the University of California at [Berkeley, and the University Schooi of 'Agriculture at Davis. To see someIthing of rural California he went as ifar south as San Diego, and then went . ieast- to the Agricultural College and the 'experimental station of the State of lowa at Am.es. Thereafter he went north to Minniapolis and St. Paul, to the University of Minnesota and its , schooi of agriculture; south to the University of Wisconsin at Maddison; thence to Chicago; then to Columbus (Ohio) to see the Ohio State University and Schooi of Agriculture; to Washington to confer with officials of the D4 'partment of Agriculture; thence to Cornell University at Ithica; thence to Toronto, and to Ottawa to confer with representatives of the Department of Agriculture and the Research Couneil. Arriving in Glasgow in May, he went almost immediately to London, where during the noxt three moths he conducted an investigation of the marketing of dairy produce from New Zealand and elsewhere. He also inquired into matters of agricultural research aud into the pig trade. Holland, Denmark, Sweden were then visited, but Professor Riddet returned to London in tiine for the conference of the British Commonwealth Seientific Conference. Further time was spent in research and market investigations, the traveller leaving on December 18. On the way 'home he spent a short period in Bombay and Colombo, and made contacts in each of the Australian state capitals. Agricultural research, dairy production and utilisation, trade in dairy products, quality of dairy and pig products, and imodern trends in agriculture, were the lchief topica- with which Professor 'Riddet was concerned. Boosting British Agriculture. Since 1931, said Professor Riddet, istrenuous. efforta had been made to 'boost British agriculture, with the obJjective of inereasing returns from prijmary products, There had been difficulities, and still were, but the system was ,one that should prove advantageous to •all. The eneouragetnent of agriculture 'had been undertaken chiefly by a number of primary produce boards, chief of which was the Milk Marketing Board. This had been effective in. raising the price of milk to the producer, and also in inereasing the consumption of milk ;products. It was unlikely that the production of butter in the United King-' dom would increase greatly, nor would that of cheese. What change there had been in the production of these in the. past three years had been in the direction of a change from farm to factory, and while this put the products on a basis more competitive with the Doiminions, there was no need for any jeailousy between Dominion and Home pro'ducers, as they could help each otheri greatly. Whereas one sent chiefly j butter and cheese to market, the other isent chiefly milk. Recently a commiaision which reported on the various [milk marketing boards -had recommendled that the fixing Qf milk prices should |be in the handa, not of the farmers^ but' "by the equivalent of a National Utility Couneil. The object was to obtain for the farjner a reasonable price and to place milk on the market at a level which the people would find in no way excessive.