SEEKING NEW MARKETS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 6

SEEKING NEW MARKETS

AN old established firm of farm implement manufacturers in Australia, in conjunction with their New Zealand agents, is sounding out the New Zealand market for their products. The firm, Port Implements Pty. Ltd., of Adelaide, is described as by far the largest manufacturer of potato machinery in Australia. The firm has brought to New Zealand a sample of its potato machines. These are being demonstrated at a series of field days throughout the country. One was held on the property of Mr R. T. Mundy near Christchurch this week. The firm has no allusions

that its equipment will be exactly suitable for New Zealand conditions and its sales manager, Mr Frank Wolff, said modifications would be needed. The firm wanted to see whether their equipment designed for the average Australian grower with eight to 10 acres of potatoes would also suit his New Zealand counterpart. The 250 or so growers and others who were present at the local demonstration were invited to complete a form indicating what machines would be suitable for their district. The equipment demonstrated included a harvester with a bin trailer for handling

potatoes in bulk but also able to handle in bags, single and double row diggers and planters, a fertiliser dropper, a grading and sizing table, a seed cutter and a pulveriser for cutting tops. Asked whether they had found soil conditions in New Zealand much different from Australia, Mr Wolff said that except at Pukekohe the soil had been much lighter in texture and extremely fluffy so that it did not handle quite as well. Although its machines are not widely known in New Zealand, the firm it has been supplying agricultural discs and fittings to New Zealand for 20 years.