A long list of problems facing the individual private farmer in Israel was on the agenda here today of the convention of the Israel Farmers Association. The convention was greeted by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion, who urged that individual farmers develop private farming in the Negev wilderness “just as veterans started farming in the Huleh swamps, in the Judean plains and in the sands of the coastal plain.”
One of the subjects that resulted in attacks against the Government involved the Government’s agricultural planning. Speakers declared that, instead of enabling the development of various farming fields, the Government is “planning narrow boundaries for farmers, directing all its efforts to development areas.” Members of the association also demanded reduction of high duties and taxes on agricultural equipment and on farmers’ income.
Minister of Agriculture Moshe Dayan, who attended the convention, bore the brunt of the criticisms against the Government’s agricultural planning. However, he told the association that “a country’s development needs planning–and that planning has not injured any farmer.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
