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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No. 17. July 17, 1974

The Cockies' Plight

page 6

The Cockies' Plight

Most New Zealanders will concede that we owe our prosperity to the success of our agriculture in the past. But many city dwellers are totally out of touch with what is going on today. Many "townies" think that all "cockies", be they sheep, beef, dairy or other type of farmer are all well-to-do and get things pretty easy. Unfortunately this is a case with only a minority of farmers today. I say unfortunately for not only the farmers but the whole country feels the effects of farmers being in dire circumstances.

More than 80% of our export income comes from farming and its associated industries and we use this export income not only to increase the money supply at home but also to buy all those imported atrocities of the twentieth century.

This article will look at the hill country sheep farmer. These people are getting a worse deal than many other groups in the country today The hill country farmer in New Zealand differs from the flat land "cockey" in one important respect. The flat land man is generally better off for he does not have the problems of the hill country farmer such as stock falling over banks and noxious weed control. The hill country farmer may have all the scrub on his farm cut but about eight years later nearly the whole farm will be covered with scrub again and the clearing process must be repeated.

Photo of sheep grazing in a paddock

Farmers may be divided up into categories of those who inherited their land and those who bought into it. Most farmers who inherited their land are not in anything near the predicament of the farmer who bought into his land with a high mortgage interest rate when prices were good. These farmers who own their land can generally look forward to a large tax free capital gain when they sell it. We will not be looking at these people, but rather at the hill country sheep farmers who are struggling this year to earn enough money to pay the interests on their mortgages.

As more than 75% of a sheepfarmer's income comes from overseas he is very susceptible to any overseas price changes or to any internal inflation. Overseas prices can fluctuate very quickly (e.g. the price of beef has dropped more than 55% this year). Farmers are one of the few groups in the country who cannot pass on the effects of inflation because of their dependence on the overseas prices they get. In a special study by the Institute of Economic Research on the effects of inflation on farming the authors said:

"The farming sector has an especial interest in the avoidance of wage-price inflationary spirals. Some approximate calculations for the future clearly demonstrate, other things being equal, that the level of net farming is very sensitive to internal inflation rates similar to those experienced in the early 1970's will surely generate serious economic difficulties for the farming industry if they continue."

Many sheep farmers live on a wage as little as $25 a week and $30—$40 a week is quite a common amount, if you asked many city slickers to move out to the country, put in a lot of hard work and get paid this small amount they would say you are crazy. Some retaliate with the foolish argument of all the benefits the farmer gets from living on the land but when these are investigated carefully about the only concession the sheep farmer has is free meat and a free house. Therefore it can be seen that the sheep farmer only earning $25—$40 per week is still in a worse position than the average person in town after an allowance is made for that person's rent and meat.

Because of these low incomes many farmers have had to resort to other means to earn enough money to support their families. These include deer stalking, opossum trapping and horse training. They all have one thing in common. While the farmer is involved in these supplementary activities he is ignoring the routine work that should be done on the farm and this has happened on thousands of farms in New Zealand recently.

One of the most upsetting things to happen to the struggling sheep farmer today is to get tied down to one of the large unscrupulous stock and station agents. In many cases these money grabbing firms not only force the farmer to pay crippling interest rates but actually take over all the financial affairs of the farm and decide what wages the farmer will receive.

Stock and station agents have a far tighter control over the affairs of many farmers than the government has on any employers or unions. This is because the big firms set figures for the farmers which they expect them to meet for five or ten years. Indeed many farmers who had been on the same wage for ten years prior to 1972 because the stock and station agents controlled the drawings of the farmer.

Looking at the men themselves who farm the hill country, I will make another generalisation and say they are cautious conservatives (i.e. National) and very wary of any advice from farm advisors, wool-brokers etc. Further, out of all the farmers in my experience they have the least to do with organisations like Federated Farmers. So they have no way that they opinions can be heard, and in any case they would probably not want to present them in public. Hence the lack of communication between the 'townies' and the farmers.

One of the worst things that concerns farmers at present is the government and its inability to govern effectively. Everybody knows that Labour is not a farmers' government but this time round the farmers have had a rough deal. In 1966 wool prices slumped. In 1967 the National Government devalued the dollar which made exports more favourably priced but which also saw the start of inflation on a large scale in New Zealand. In 1972 wool beef, and mutton prices started to pick up again and in 1973 farmers had record incomes. But one good year does not make up for six bad ones.

Table from "Straight Furrow"

Table from "Straight Furrow"

Tables from "Farming and Inflation" - NZ Institute of Economic Research