DEPRESSION IN POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Shannon News, 27 September 1929, Page 3

DEPRESSION IN POULTRY INDUSTRY.

LOW EGG PRICES. Inquiries made 'by a Palmerston Times representative endorse the views expressed in the Chronicle last week in regard to the poultry industry. It i s apparent that poultry farmers in the Manawatu district, in common with their brethren all over the Dominion are going through a period of almost unprecedented depression. A gentleman who is well acquainted with the position in the Manawatu, stated emphatically that there is not a possibility of poultry farmers making a living, or even clearing expenses, with eggs at a wholesale price of Is 3d a dozen. He was of the opinion that the minimum price paid to the producer during the summer months must be Is 5d before the poultry farmers could work on even a moderately paying basis. Thi{s % d e P ression w ” ,as ky any means unprecedented, as during the last two or three seasons a very similar position had arisen. When the matter was referred to Mr T. Bruce, for two years president of the New Zealand Poultry Association, and late secretary of the now defunct Manawatu Utility Poultry Society, he agreed that the position was serious so far as district poultry farmers were concerned.

He was prepared to state that the egg output from the Manawatu district for the present season had fallen to 25 per cent, of what it had been in 1927. The Foxton district, which was recognised as the largest egg-producing area in the North Island, showed a very marked decrease in output and many poultiy men had gone cut of business as a result of the low prices which had been ruliug. It had been considered by some that export would solve the problem L-y doing away with the summer market glut but in spite of the fact that a record number of eggs had been exported from New Zealand last year, this had been onfe of the worst seasons ever experienced by the poultry farmers. “I am quite satisfied that the low prices at present ruling have been brought about by the producers' own actions in supplying the bulk of their eggs to the agents who control the market.” stated Mr Bruce.

The position was first and last the fault of , the poultrymen themselves, who had refused to support marketing organisations which would safeguard their interests. At present, buying agents offered boom prices,for eggs during the winter months but according to Mr Bruce, more rhan compensated themselves for this during the summer and spring when the ( egg supply was much in excess of the demand. As the winter output of eggs 'was only about 15 per cent, of the total number produced, the summer market was by far the more important. The, great, majority, of the eggs..sold during the summer months were converted into egg pulp and sold to bakers and pastrycooks. “The remedy fcr the position is obvious to anybody who is interested in the matter,’-' Mr Bruce stated. “The solution is not to be found in export as all those with a knowledge of the position are prepared to admit. This has been borne out by the report of a Government expert who in reporting to the recent wheat commission in Wellington, stated that export could never remedy the position. This expert stated that the producers required an organisation to take the control of the egg pulp market out of the hands of the agents. ’ ’ Mr Bruce pointed out that the necessary action to obtain a marketing organisation had been taken by the New Zealand Poultry Association in 3925. Had this body reecived the support it warranted, the egg producing industry would now be one of the most flourishing in New Zealand. Efforts had been made at. the last conference of the association in Christchurch, to obtain the assistance of the Government in forming a- compulsory egg pulp pool similar to those operating in some Australian States. So far the Government had done nothing in this direction but it was possible that Mr Fawcett, the expert before mentioned, world make a recommendation along those lines.