Aim to bridge the gap

Press, 26 August 1977, Page 14

Aim to bridge the gap

Practical farmers will lead off at this year’s thirty-ninth annual conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association at Palmerston North at the beginning of November.

From Kairanga, Koputaroa and Foxton, they will be speaking on cropping, intensive livestock farming, and the development of the sand country of the Manawatu. This will set the scene for the field day when farms and research areas in the Manawatu will be visited. The Grassland Association draws its membership of about 500 from farmers, advisory staff and scientists working together to improve the communication of research findings and management practices between scientists and farmers. The annua! conferences alternate between North Island and South Island farming districts.

Last year’s conference was held in Nelson. The last time the association

met in Palmerston North was 30 years ago. This year the president is Mr W. G. Thurston, of the Grasslands Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Palmerston North, who said that this year’s conference programme had been designed to close the “information gap” between the scientists, advisory officer and the practical farmer. The conference opens on Tuesday, November 1, with an address on the latest advances tn grassland farming, m Europe by the Director of the Grass-

lands Division, Dr R. W. Brougham. The theme for the morning of the opening day is “management farming.” Farmer speakers will include Mr R. K. Coulson, of Kairanga, on integrating cropping and livestock, and Mr M. Guy, of Koputaroa, on intensive livestock farming. Mr D. Easton, of Foxton, will speak later in the day on the history and development of sand country. Other subjects on the theme of sand country farming chosen by D.S.I.R. and Ministry of Agriculture speakers include pasture variation in sand country, lucerne, water loss and responses to water stress of several pasture species, beef production from lucerne and lucerne mixtures, pasture use and ewe performance on grass-clover and lucerne pastures, and the effects of lambing dates on pasture intakes, quality and animal production. Wednesday will be occupied by an all-day, 130 km trip visiting farms and research areas in the Manawatu. The annual meeting of the association is in the evening, when Grassland Memorial Trust awards will be presented to farmers from the southern North Island.

On Thursday morning the theme is pasture species evaluation. including new herbage varieties. clovers on sandy soils, the place of lotus species, and the performance of Pawera red clover and Matua prairie grass.

In the afternoon the theme is water harvesting — and this embraces collection and storage, water balance and pasture production, the effect of seeding rates on yield, and the application of satellite technology to pasture analysis. On Friday a post-confer-ence tour will be available to Grasslands Division stations at Aorangi and Ballantrae.

The association publishes two volumes of proceedings yearly — one includes the papers delivered at the conference, and the other various grassland production topics. Both are aimed at providing practical farmers with the latest results of scientific research into grassland production and management,