The Value of Team Work

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

The Value of Team Work

•TT ain’t the guns and armament. Nor the funds that they can pay, But close co-operation That makes them win the day; It ain’t the individual, Nor the army as a whole, But the ever-lasting team work Of every bloomin’ soul.—Kipling.

Time was when it was said of farming that it was an independent life, that the man on the land could go his own way irrespective of his fellows. That day has passed, only fools talk that way now. We are now living in an age of co-operation, and the wise know it, and seek to apply its principles to every phase of production and distribution. A Much-Quoted Country Denmark is a much-quoted country, where farming problems are concerned. The reason is clear, however. The Danes lead the world as a producing country, and much of their success is due to co-operative effort. The movement started in that country little over 80 years ago, yet to-day it is applied to practically every avenue of

production and distribution. Read of some of the chief phases which cooperative effort covers in that country. Approximate Membership. 1.360 creameries .. 200,000 46 bacon factories 140,000 National egg export society 45,000 Fertiliser purchasing societies 70,000 Feeding-stuff societies . . .. 70,000 1,260 cattle-breeding societies 30,000 820 control societies for testing and improving yield and quality of milk . . 20,000 13 credit societies Seed-producing supply assn. 3,000 Local associations with educational objects 81,000 The annual turnover of the feedingstuffs societies is £6,000,000. The cattle-breeding societies own 1,400 pedigree bulls, while the horse-breed-ing societies own 560 stallions. The Seed Supply Association, which has a huge cleaning and grading factory fitted with the most modern machinery, deals with 30 per cent, of the total seed supply. Its output is •old by the distributing co-operative •ocieties. Principles of Danish Effort In Denmark, specialisation is held to t>e necessary for efficiency. Thus, there are separate organisations for each specific purpose. All the societies in each class are linked up by Rational committees, and these committees in turn elect representatives to a grand central council, which co-ordinates the political and educational activities of the whole movement.

Nearly all the societies have a strict rule whereby members bind themselves to supply to the society the whole of their output of the particular product in which the society deals for a number of years. This proved to be the salvation of many of the societies in the early days, when the middlemen tried to freeze them out by offering tempting terms to the farmers. The governing committees of the •ocieties are small, and at the annual elections each member has equal voting power. Thus, the small holder

JOINT ACTION GETS RESULTS

exercises as much influence over policy as the big farmer. This democratic rule is found to work well in practice and create the widest possible interest in the work of the societies. Success Due to Co-operation Reporting on conditions as he had found them after an exhaustive investigation, a leading British authority stated recently that the Danes are enterprising and self-reliant? They realise the fact that that market can only be captured and held by commodities of unimpeachable quality, produced and distributed at the lowest possible cost. To attain this standard they have applied the co-operative principle to every activity—production, distribu-

tion, purchasing, stock improvement, insurance, finance, and banking. This is the sole explanation of their ability to bear the heavy post-war financial burdens of the country, and to enjoy an enviable margin of prosperity when they have footed the bill. New Zealand Experience

Big steps have been made in cooperative effort in New Zealand, yet, in this direction, the producers greatest enemy is himself. To put it plainly, if a member af a labour union adopted the same tactics he would be termed a scab. Many co-operative efforts in this Country have failed through lack of support from the very man in whose interests they have been run. Immediate gain with little thought or care for the future has largely been the policy of the farmer, and as a result, playing on this, proprietary and vested interests have been able to beat the farmer at his own game, relying on the fact that the bait of extra profit, even though it is only temporary, will almost inevitably be sufficient to tempt the farmer to deal with institutions he had aimed to put out of business.

Sport takes up very little of the average farmer’s time, yet, from the football and cricket fields the man on the land could take an object lesson which, correctly applied, would do much to place him on the high road to success. Continued team work in all phases of farm life, in ploughing, cropping, breeding, marketing, buying, and financing, is the surest avenue through which the New Zealand farmer can reach success. Half-hearted effort, however, in which the producer will drop tools at the first reverse, will never reach far. As in Denmark, on the formation of every co-operative society its promoters should Oe pledged to support it for a period of years. With such support success would be assured, and the farmer would achieve the results for which he is aiming.