Fertiliser Aids Grain Growers

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 10

Fertiliser Aids Grain Growers

Comparatively cheap fertiliser is the basic reason for the success of the arable farmer in Britain, says Mr P. G. Morrison, of Darfield, in his official report on his visit last year to the United Kingdom under a Nuffield Foundation travelling scholarship. “Before the war the average yield of wheat was 32 bushels to the acre and it is now more than 60. Although this is in part due to plant breeding fertilisers have played an important role. Many will use Bcwt of fertiliser on wheat crops including scwt of nitrogen. Their basis for deciding how much nitrogen to use is at what level the crop will lodge. “In these grain growing aeas many have gone away from traditional mixed farming to specialised grain production. Factors limiting the amount of grain which they can grow are diseases such as take-all, rather than soil fertility. This is supplied from the bag. “The fallowing are two crop rotations which illustrate the amount of grain grown: (1) wheat to potatoes, to wheat, to barley twice, to a break crop. (2) wheat to wheat, to up to four crops of barley to a break crop. “In the first rotation potatoes are grown between the two wheat crops to help combat take-all disease. One of their biggest problems is to get a break crop which is payable .... “Sowing rates of cereals are higher than those found in New Zealand—up to three bushels of wheat to the acre being common practice. The tendency is to increase the size of paddocks in the grain growing areas and many feltthat 50 acres is the optimum. It is a common sight to see bulldozers pushing out fence-

lines and trees in the interests of greater efficiency. Likewise there is a move towards larger machines such as tractors, headers etc. “Their methods of sowing grain are very interesting. Combine drilling of fertiliser and grain is still the main method, but on some of the larger grain growing farms they are now top-dressing the fertilisers with spinners in front of a grain drill. This enables them to sow a greater area in a day, which is important in the British climate. These grain drills normally sow in 41 in rows and experiments have shown they obtain about a 3 per cent increase in yield as compared with the traditional 7in rows. Another system of sowing is to broadcast the fertiliser and grain and follow with a light discing. “Long-term experiments at the husbandry farms have shown that whether the grain stubble is burnt, ploughed in or carted off has very little effect on subsequent crops. The traditional method of carting dung from the farm yard to the paddock is losing favour because of the costs involved. Most now burn their stubble and apply artificial fertilisers.

“Trials which I saw growing wheat without any previous cultivation but using chemicals to kill the foliage were very interesting. In some paddocks I could not tell where the boundary was between the traditional methods of cultivation and the chemical system. In other paddocks the balance was definitely in favour of traditional cultivation. Those doing the trials felt that the success or otherwise of the chemical venture was dependent on the seeder used. One chemical firm in particular is spending a large amount of money on research into this system, and it may well have a place on certain classes of country in the future. “I have no doubt that the

present levels of cropping will continue. Plant nutrients are supplied from the bag and although the humus contents of the soil drop slightly, it is then maintained by the cereal crop roots. This may well have some biological problems but their standard of research in fanning practice is so high that this will not deter them. “Although we do not have a large area of good grain growing land in New Zealand, I have no doubt that we should be self-supporting in wheat. We have done very little research on more intensive grain growing in this country and the only knowledge that the farmer really has at his disposal is the memory of the effect of intensive grain growing during the depression,” said Mr Morrison.