Waimarino farmers hurting

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 26, 19 November 1985, Page 3

Waimarino farmers hurting

Farmers are hurting in the Waimarino as they are in many parts of the country. Low prices for stock, particularly sheep meats, high costs for inputs such as fertiliser, the high-riding New Zealand dollar and the killer interest rates, are all giving them lots of worries. The withdrawal of the Meat Board from marketing lamb has also created a climate of uncertainty after Christmas when private companies take over again. George Drayton, who farms at Mangateitei Road, Ohakune, is finding cash flow a problem and says that without his wife's income as a staff nurse they would be in big difficulties. He recalls that when he started eight years ago with 800 ewes, achieving 90 per cent lambing, plus running a few cattle and growing swedes fpr the market, two families were supported on the property. Now he has 1200 ewes at 1 35 per cent lambing "and it is not really wages for one this year." SMPs He looks back to SMPs with mixed feelings. "It was an easy way out for the government at the time and they didn't get unpopular, but at least you could plan ahead with certainty." Now there was great uncertainty and it was hard to see what the future would be.

"Farmers could put up with rough times if they could see the end of it," he said. George reckons his gross income will drop this year by a third which means his fertiliser application will be a bare maintenance level, still costing $10,000. CUTBACKS George points out that cutbacks in farmer spending are going to flow through the whole economy, and that local service industries, including fertiliser, machinery and top-dressing aviation, may be particularly badly hit. He is concerned at the murky future for farming now that private companies are taking over marketing again. "When the Meat Board set the schedule at least you knew where you were," he said. Merv Williams manages 2590 hectares of secondclass hill country at Ruatiti. The farm is owned by a syndicate and was developed over recent years with the help of Land Development Loan money. "The loans, livestock incentives, fertiliser subsidies were all part of a heavily subsidised economy which inflated prices of land like this — now we are back to reality," he said. "Businessmen were encouraged to come in with tax incentives to create jobs which the government wanted at the time — now it

is all changed and the investors do not think it worth contributing more." Merv said things were going well last year after devaluation but now with no SMPs, low stock prices and high interest rates, things were tough. "Stock firm farm accounts at 27 per cent mean it is a matter of farming for survival," he said. Many farmers are cutting fertiliser this year and that money is going to service interest. "This will all reflect back through the community and shearers, transport, and aerial topdressing will all be hit, especially after Christmas when the new prices come through." Merv has harsh words for the Meat Board. MARKETING "They made a complete hash of selling and things should look up now with competitive private companies — we must have pro,fessional marketing." Both Merv and his wife Nicky see the need for government policies to drop subsidies — but they fervently wish they could have been cut gradually. Ian Enright on Makakahi Road is also dismayed. "We are suddenly back to where we were five years ago — running losses, and that is demoralising," he said. Ian said that in the early 1 970s, when stock prices fell, farmers could carry a debt because interest rates were

low, but now with high rates a huge debt would be built up which could be impossible to pay off. Ian's farm was amalgamated out of two uneconomic blocks some years ago but now was getting uneconomic again. "I remember my father and I saying 1000 sheep would be enough to live off — now I have 3200 and it is still not enough." Ian believes SMPs were not as bad as they were portrayed. "They did not cost a lot compared to social services, and they circulated round the community stimulating other business," he said. With farm incomes declining this year any cash surplus is likely to go on servicing increased interest rates. Ian is discouraged by the problems and wonders why farmers are just taking it. "I cannot understand why farmers are not marching to Wellington with pitchforks to complain," he said. Farming problems are often seen as simply money problems, yet behind the interest rates and the statistics there are human beings — farmers and their families, and a lot of gut-wrenching anxiety. ADVICE Roy Lapworth, manager of the BNZ Raetihi, has some advice to those who are depressed and worried. "The main point I would make is to ask that farmers don't stay out in the hills worrying and worrying, terrified that the bank manager's letter will arrive — they must come in to see their bank manager, their accountant, their stock firm, and talk about it. "There are avenues of relief but we have to have all the details first before we can discuss a particular problem." "My very strong message is to ask for communication — without it we can do nothing," he said.