Agricultural Traffic Worth EllOrn.
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FARMING is the biggest single
industry in this country, with a food-production figure of 11,043m, a year. In terms of traffic potential, the industry offers carriers at least 50m. tons of produce, worth about illOrn, in freight charges.
This information was given by Mr. G. A. Baxter, of the National Farmers' Union, on Monday. He was reading a paper, 'The Transport Needs of Agriculture," to the Metropolitan Section of the Institute of Transport.
The main goods offered were, he said, sugar beet (4.5m, tons), potatoes (8.1m. tons), milk (1,366m. gallons), livestock, fruit, vegetables and flowers.
When we speak of the transport needs of our industry," said Mr. Baxter, "we mean something more than• the physical movement between a given pair of points. We are concerned with the extent of the terminal facilities provided for the efficient reception and handling of our traffic; we are vitally interested in the type of conveying vehicle used, the method of stowage within the vehicle, the transit time involved and the effect on the commodity arising out of the mode of transport employed, and, of course, the level of the rates charged."
Flexibility, he added, was the keynote in agricultural transport.