High Country Improvement Group Formed

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 7

High Country Improvement Group Formed

The first high-country farm improvement and recording group has been formed by the Department of Agriculture among runholders in the Rakaia Gorge area after a meeting held at Lake Coleridge on Tuesday evening.

The primary object of the, meeting was to outline the objectives and mechanics of the proposed formation of; farm improvement groups ini ■the high country and tussock; grasslands to service the de-1 partment’s farm planning and budgeting service to farmers. The fields superintendent, of the department for Can-; terbury (Mr A. R. Dingwall) j acted as chairman and intro-: duced Mr S. H. Saxby. assistant director of farm advisory division. Wellington. Mr Saxby, who is also a board member of the' Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute, carried out much of the early basic re-; search into tussock grass-1 lands. He outlined briefly the , role the department had played in the. high country up to the present day. Now the fertility response problem was becoming significantly clearer one had to study more closely the managerial problems and their application to the run, he said. History He traced the history of the farm improvement group movement and said that its implementation in the high country could serve as an excellent extension aid in formulating farm management programmes. Mr R. C. Stuart, farm advisory officer (economics), discussed the department’s farm planning and budgeting service and explained how ; farm improvement and re- . cording schemes had and!; were assisting in this service! which was now widely de- ;, manded. '

I For the Rakaia Gorge area ; it was proposed to form two small groups and, in co- ; operation with the ruis- ! holders, complete farm plans I would be drawn up for the | next few years. Where neceii- : sary, budgets would also be prepared. Other department specialists could be called in ; on such aspects as wool and ■ flock improvement, stock ; water supplies, drainage, anijmal thrift and. other factors in management. Research An endeavour would be j made to incorporate current j research findings into the farm plan, Mr Stuart said. The plan itself would be formulated in accordance with the farmer’s physical and financial limits and those cooperating would be free to use such plans and budgets to support any extension of credit required. By studying physical and financial records of each year's progress the impact of the extension of oversowing and topdressing to runs themselves could be measured and valuable evidence on farm management techniques obtained, he said. In other parts of the country under farm improvement and recording schemes comparisons could be made between individual farm performances and those of the various groups. Because of the wide variation of natural features it was doubtful just how far similar valid comparisons could be made on tussock grasslands but all results would be published in the form of group averages land ranges. No individual re- • suits would be published.

An outline of the fertility response pattern for the area was given by Mr R. L. Bennetts, field instructor, who has carried out a wide range of experimental, and advisory work in the area. Mr Bennetts said the results were now widely known by runholders, particularly the place of sulphur, phosphate and molybdenum, and that most runholders were now topdressing and oversowing with molybdic-su'iphur - superphosphate and using inoculated seed. Current trials on maintenance topdressings and the introduction of grasses, suppression of manganese and trials being carried out on stock thrift were also described by Mr Bennetts, who illustrated his address with a film on experimental work in the Rakaia Gorge. Mr Bennetts described a proposal to establish a 200 to 300-acre demonstration block to ehlarge the scope of the present experimental work. Similar blocks have been established in other hill country districts in New Zealand, financed by a special improvement fund. Mr L. W. McCaskill, director of the Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute, spoke briefly to the meeting and expressed his interest in the department’s work in the high country. Mr Dingwall also spoke on ' sweet briar. Sufficient runholders expressed their interest in the proposal for two groups to be formed in the Rakaia Gorge. One of these will be on the higher country and the other on the lower country near the mouth of the gorge. The department also has carried out preliminary investigations for the establishment of similar groups in North Canterbury and the Mackenzie Country.