PRIMARY PRODUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 11

PRIMARY PRODUCTION

RISKS TO THE FARMER GUARANTEE AGAINST LOSS (Special to Daily Times) - WAIMATE. Oct. 5. “I entirely disagree with the ruling of the National Council of Primary Production, which is opposed to indemnifying farmers against loss through over-production,” said Mr W. J. Fletcher at a meeting of the Waimate branch of the Farmers’ Union. '‘They hold that the farmer is in the same position as the rest of the community, but that is not so. If a contractor is given an order, it is for a definite quantity of goods and at a fixed price; but the farmer is asked to produce more, and if he has a surplus it becomes a factor in governing the price.” He said this was very unfair, and he thought farmers should not have to stand the loss. Mr J. Dempsey, a member of the South Canterbury Primary Production Council, said it would be awkward for him when he asked farmers to grow more. They would ask him what they would get for it. Mr lan Ross .'aid it .was asking a good deal of farmer-, to expect them to produce the goods and then let them perish or have the surplus thrown on the market to depreciate the value of the whole crop. It was markedly different from the position of a contractor in the secondary industry, who undertook a Government order. The farmer was up against weather conditions and other factors, and he could not put up the price as did other contractors. “We need not be guaranteed a profit, but we should be guaranteed against loss,” he added. Mr G. Barclay stated that as far as the main lines of production were concerned, wool, meat, and cheese farmers were practically guaranteed* by the British Government.

Mr Fletcher expressed the opinion that it was unjust that the surplus should dictate the price. Even in exportable produce the matter depended on whether the market was there for all the produce. Mr Fletcher said they had an obligation to the nation. The country’s men were fighting overseas for a small wage, and the farmers should do their share in the necessary production. But they had to remember that they had other obligations. At the same time, he thought that to register a protest would be merely “ beating the air.”