AGRICULTURE ABROAD

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23493, 22 November 1941, Page 6

AGRICULTURE ABROAD

BRITAIN’S INTENSIVE POLICY DR. I. D. BLAIR’S IMPRESSIONS Dr I. D. Blair, of the staff of Canterbury Agricultural College, who has just, returned to New Zealand after carrying out studies and research in England, Canada, and the United States, had some interesting observations to make to a representative of “The Press’’ on the effects of war-time agricultural policy in England. Dr. Blair left the Dominion for England just before the war broke out, and has mainly spent the intervening two years in work at the Imperial College of Science, London, and the Rothamstead Experimental Station, at which institution he-had exceptional opportunities of studying farming practices under the urge of the war. „.. . _ Dr. Blair said that in Britain, Canada, and the United States wartime agriculture had been confronted with problems and developments demanding immediate adjustment, notably, of course, some control of production and alternative utilisation of farm land. One was inclined to overlook a significant wartime development which was not in the official scheme of things when the policies were planned; this pertained to the measure of land improvement which was going tp result from some of the war-time agricultural adjustments. The exigencies of war had been responsible for the initiation of measures primarily designed to meet the immediate needs and difficulties of the nation, but at the same time some of the measures were, in effect, leading to a degree of land rejuvenation which in peace time had been neglected, even though the need might have been appreciated. Dr. Blair quoted a number of examples to illustrate the point;— In England, three million acres of grassland had been restored to arable farming, in most instances for the first time since the last war. Much of this land was being drained and fertilised and it was intended that after a period of cropping the land should be- sown down in grass again, which of course would then be more productive pasture than the original. Ley farming with a rotation of crops followed by three or four-year pastures was a practice hot only Intended to Increase Britain’s food resources and animal feed supplies but also to eliminate that peace-time attribute of English agriculture—understocked and out of condition permanent pasture, Canadian Changes At the present time Canada was burdened with a wheat surplus in the vicinity of 400 million bushels. Farmers on the Western Prairie were permitted to market only five bushels a seeded acre and bonuses were given for fallowed land or for land sown in crops other than wheat. Wheat was not at all a topic of conversation in Canada now and a great deal of the continuous wheat land of Saskatchewan and Manitoba was now being sown in flax, alfalfa (lucerne), crested wheatgrass and bromegrass, or was fallowed. Strip and contour cultivation with modifications of a crop rotation have been adopted to the ultimate benefit of prairie agriculture. America’s Farming Problems Cotton in the deep south of the United States had been placed in a similar position to Canadian wheat as a re. suit of the loss of export markets, said Dr. Blair. One crop cotton farming in the Carolinas and Georgia had led to a degree of soil erosion there which was more severe than anywhere else in the United States. But since the war began the farmers and plantationowners of Georgia had sought and found other uses for their cotton land; the one-crop system had given way to forms of mixed farming, including a greater use of grass and soil conserving crops. After the war it was expected that these "problem regions” of Georgia would have significantly benefited by this period during which it had not been possible to produce continuous cotton. There was one notable exception to this tendency toward land improvement resulting from war-time adjustments. Throughout the south-west ranchlands of the United States' the Soil Conservation Service had encouraged the ranchers to treat the native pastures lightly and to adopt a form of rotational grazing on this arid pasture land, where the recovery of the native species was poor. At the present time prices for beef in America were at such a peak that ranchers in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona were making an effort to stock as heavily as possible and to increase by any means their stock numbers and they were shutting their eyes to the demonstrations they had earlier observed on the detrimental effects of such a policy on the native grasslands. The men of the Soil Conservation Service were gloomy in their conviction that after the war the native ranchlands of the southwest would be as di pleted as they were when the service began its notable advisory work 10 years ago. Dr. Blair said that after seeing so many poor and deteriorating pastures in Canada and the United States—and even in England, where, however, there were many, of the best in the world—it was refreshing to come back to New Zealand and see the excellent pastures over a wide belt of this cojuntry. Nowhere in the different countries he, had visited was there to be seen better looking pastures than in the Waikato and on their own Lincoln College farm. To Dr. Blair, however, one of the most impressive sights was the change at Ashley Dene, where liming and fertilising and subterranean clover and lucerne . had transformed the farm in a very short period into a state of high productivity. A local resident received a letter by last mail from a Sydney friend who is in the milling business, and who has just completed an inspection of the New South Wales wheat belt. He says that the estimated wheat area is 4,280,000 acres, and the estimated production from 40,000,000 to 42,000,000 bushels. This is from 18,000,000 to 20.000,000 bushels less than the average production of the last 15 years, but it is much higher than that of last year, when the drought brought the yield down to something like six bushels an acre. There had been a good rain in the wheat belt, which saved the position, but there had been less rain in the Sydney catchment area than for very many years. Domestic use in Sydney as a result had been /limited drastically. The series of spring shows in Canterbury for this season is nearing an end. The Courtenay show, at Kirwee. and the Peninsula show, at Duvauchelle. will be held to-day, and the Little River show next Saturday will mark the conclusion of the spring serifes. At the Rangiora show the reserve champion ticket for Friesian bull was won by C. Humm and Sons, not by R. E. Gillman, as previously reported. C. Humm and Sons also won the type production class for all breeds. Owing to import restrictions, supplies of Mount Barker and Tallarook Sub. Clover and Turnip Seed (white and yellow flesh) are not as plentiful as they might be. However, farmers won’t be disappointed if they apply promptly to AleX. McDonald and Co 194 Cashel street, P.O. Box 87, Christchurch. ’Phone 38-80Q, -4