AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21356, 26 December 1934, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

TO Tim IDITOB or THE PRBSS. Sir, —Almost every day when reading the morning paper one comes across some reference to the necessity for agricultural research. It can be said that 99 per cent, of those who speak of agricultural research have j no idea what'it means, and are simply I grasping at the shadow of what they imagine agricultural research is. A gentleman who sits as a member of one of our numerous boards has been insistent on the necessity for agricultural research, although his knowledge of agriculture consists in knowing a sheep from a cow. At a meeting of farmers this gentleman was questioned about what agricultural research would do for farmers, and made the astounding statement that it would take all the work out of farming and the farmers would not need to stay on their farms for more than a few months of the year. This is all a dream, and the sooner all such dreamers come down to mother earth the better for all concerned. New Zealand has had a large amount of research of recent times. Some of it has been fully justified where it had some application to practical farming, but the most of it has consisted of pure theory without any practical application to modern farms. The most astounding thing about those who are continually speaking about agricultural research is that they forget that the agricultural research we want is available every day on hundreds of good farms, and the gathering up of this information and its dissemination would give us all the information we need. Experimental research as carried out has not had much application to farming, as the experiments have been too theoretical and farmers have got very sick of them. I do not suggest that agricultural experiments should be dropped altogether, but I do suggest that they be confined to farm problems and have some relation to the farm methods of the districts where they are put down. During a visit to the Waikato district I saw some useful research work on farms in pigbreeding, grassland management, dairy management, farm subdivision, shelter belts, and watering of stock. At the time of the Royal Show at Invercargill valuable research work was apparent on many Southland farms in demonstrating the value and results from liming and top-dressing, sheep management, dairy herd management, and pasture management. Many of these farmers can give details that would astonish the theoretical research worker. The experience of farmers in the districts mentioned, if written up, would be of much more value to us than any theoretical agricultural research will ever be. The good farmers in all districts are practical research workers, but their results at present never see the light of day. This is not as it should be, and the government departments concerned should see that something is done to place on paper results obtained by practical farmers.—Yours, etc. PRACTICAL RESEARCH. December 23, 1934.