PRODUCTION OF SMALL SEEDS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24711, 31 October 1945, Page 8

PRODUCTION OF SMALL SEEDS

♦ LARGE NUMBER OF SAMPLES TESTED CONFERENCE OPENED AT TIMARU From Our Own Reporter T . TIMARU, October 30. „ii w , a - s - very gratiiying to find such a close liaison between officers of the -department of Agriculture and farml^'+u sa 3? . th f vice-president ■of the Sjoutn Canterbury executive of the Farmers' Union (Mr W, J. Fletcher) when extending a welcome to these officers flpd delegates to the small seeds conference, opened at Timaru to-day The department had been responsible for introducing a scheme for certifying seeds which had probably increased the national income by hundreds of thousands of pounds. The officers were doing a great deal of quiet, unassuming work for primary production, and it was greatly appreciated. •

We get closer co-operation from the Department of Agriculture than any other department. unlesn it is with the Taxes Department, and that one fairly gets under 6ur skin with its co-opera-tion. ' he said. Mr Fletcher presided at the meeting in the absence of the president (Mr J.Dempsey), who is in-Wel-lington, attending a conference of Federated Farmers. Seed-Testing Station The Government seed-testing station at Palmerston North would be left where it was, said Mr N. ft. Froy, officer of the station, when speaking Mr Froy said that the idea of bringing the seed-testing station south had originated at Timaru, but it was the, intention of the Department of Agriculture to leave the station at Palmerston North, because of the many difficulties involved in removal. He said the idea of having more than one station was not a good one, for with division of control there would be no unity and competition would - arise, and there would be interference in standardised procedure.

The most the department could do would be to set up for seasonal use temporary testing-stations to deal with rush.work, and to give farmers an indication of what their crops would be from samples supplied. If the station was ever moved from Palmerston North it would go to Wellington, he had been told. Discussing the station at Palmerston North, Mr Froy said.it would have to be greatly increased, as the volume of samples coming-in for testing had gone beyond the capacity of. the staff. Last year a record number of samples, 27.000. hcd been tested, and up to the time he left to come south no-fewer than 30,000 samples had been' put through this year. It was expected that the number would reach a figure between 34,000 and 35.000. The chief stations in England and Denmark were three or four times larger than that in' New Zealnnd. and their pre-war average, was about 32.000 samples a year. Potential Production • :

■"We have not yet touched on the fringe of the potentiality of the production of small seeds in New Zealand. We must watch the markets carefully and u;atch the quality of our product." said Mr J. Smith, director of the Fields Division of the .Department of Agriculture. Trade relations in,the new order would be on a different basis, he said, ; and New Zealand might have to modify agricultural products. If this meant restriction - in overseas markets for wool, meat, and butter-fat, he said, producers would have to develop new industries-.to take the place of old. The small seeds trade hsd trebled in New Zealand, an a d would continue to expand.

Discussing Government control, he said that the Department of Agriculture was keen .to see the trade go through normal channels. Merchants had played a valuable part in the progress of trade and the department was working -on research to increase the yield and to give. every assistance to help,foster the small seeds trade, for which there was a unique opportunity of development in "New- Zealand.