Emerging from Wartime Conditions

Abstract

In the late 1940s, there were ample markets for produce and full employment; New Zealand was prosperous because the UK had contracted to buy from New Zealand all of its exportable surplus food and new contracts were agreed at ‘substantially increased prices’. When its first year ended, Federated Farmers main produce sections had been constituted—dairy, meat and wool, and agriculture. The essence of Federated Farmers was coping with an extremely diverse range of issues that impacted on agricultural economics and food policy. That was possible because the produce sections dealt with the more immediate problems associated with their particular produce. Federated Farmers’ influence on Government policy is demonstrated for 1947 by the diversity of issues influencing agricultural economics and food policy.