Topdressing Record

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30230, 7 September 1963, Page 7

Topdressing Record

A greater area of country was topdressed and more fertiliser was used than ever before in the period ended January 31, 1962, according to the annual review of the sheep industry. “The area was 10m acres, which is about one-quarter of our occupied land and over half of the area recorded as being sown down to grass. This result reflects the recovery in meat and wool prices and is generally heartening for the economy, ” it says. The area topdressed from the air in the year to March 31, this year, was 5,196.615 acres, compared with 5.607.926 acres the previous year, and the weight of material distributed was down to 592.473 tons from 621.134 tons. “It is probable that the more recent months’ returns, which are not yet available, may reveal a strengthening of the position,” says the review. “Considerably-increased activity is reported for the April to June period this year.”

Manufacturing On the manufacturing side, the country’s 12 fertiliser works produced a record 1.375.000 tons of chemical fertiliser in the year ended June, this year, exceeding ‘the record set in 1960-61 by about 100.000 tons. Deliveries from works in the same period were greater than in the previous year by more than 130,000 tons at 1.347,500 tons and 90.000 tons above the 1960-61 figure. Of the total tonnage delivered, the South Island took 24.1 per cent, or 325,000 tons. In 1962 lime produced for agricultural purposes dropped by about 50,000 tons to 844,000 tons. “There must still be a demand for lime in much of our newer and developing grassland, even though more recent work has indicated that the heavy dressings of the middle fifties were probably excessive and that in some areas the use of molybdenum has lightened the lime requirement of certain soil types,” adds the review.