New Farming Era In N.Z?

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31304, 25 February 1967, Page 8

New Farming Era In N.Z?

Use of bagged nitrogen could open up exciting new possibilities for agricultural production in New Zealand and might have a profound effect on farming techniques, Mr A. A. Copland, who has been in the farming industry in Britain for 25 years, said in an interview in Timaru this week.

He warned, however, that the fertiliser would have to be cheap and the possibilities and implications for management would need to be first tested out experimentally. This should first be tried on the better land, he said.

Mr Copland recalled the pioneering work done in South Canterbury by Mr W. C. Stafford in using clover to help build up fertility on farms and he said that in discussions with his old friend since returning to New Zealand Mr Stafford had told him that on the best farms in this country there was now a problem of knowing where to go next. Fertility had been built up to a point where it was becoming something of a problem. Mr Stafford had then made the point that perhaps “the nitrogen stage” had been reached—if New Zealand could use its resources of hydro-electric power to produce cheap nitrogen then this country could be in the nitrogen era. Knowing what this meant after being in Britain for so long, Mr Copland said he regarded these remarks of Mr Stafford’s as being the most far-seeing that he had heard since he had come back to this country.

The possibilities that came to mind were quite explosive and the effects that there could be on farming techniques were profound. It would involve the conservation of vast quantities of feedstuffs for the winter or store period in New Zealand and it could mean productive production for the whole 12 months of the year. As far as he knew no research along these lines

was being done in New Zealand.

What he was saying was only the germ of an idea, he said. He could see the possibilities of it Because of the cattle fattening possibilities that this would offer, he saw an Increasing place in New Zealand for the Friesian with its beef production as well as milking qualities, particularly as butterfat was becoming more difficult to sell, said Mr Copland. With such a development, there would have to be buildings put up, as stock would have to be kept off the fields in the winter.