Has worked with farmers

Press, 24 October 1980, Page 15

Has worked with farmers

Mr D. A. (Derek) Lyttle will be giving up his job as a field officer and technical adviser with the Ravensdown Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (formerly Kempthome Prossers) at the end of next month. Although he has not worked for the same organisation al! of his life, he first worked for Kempthomes in 1936 when he joined the firm as a junior in the drug department in the warehouse in High Street in Christchurch. A son of the late Mr A. E. G. Lyttle, who is affectionately remembered as the secretary for many years of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, Derek was bom in Gore but educated in Christchurch at Elmwood primary school and then St Andrew’s College.

World War II interrupted his service with the firm. As a member of Ihe territorial forces he was mobilised at the start of the war but subsequently applied for. and was accepted for. entry into the Air Force and after training at Taieri and Wigram as a pilot went overseas in 1941 to join the Royal Air Force. He saw service with No. 10 Bomber Squadron on Halifaxes. After returning to New Zealand in 1943 he did a tour of non-flying duty in the Pacific before finally being demobilised in 1945 as a flying officer and returning to his old firm at the end of that year. In 1953 when he was

manager of Kempthorne’s chemists’ sundries department he left to go into business on his own account as an indent and commission agent — a job that took him all over the South Island. Three years later he joined the Cyclone Fence and Gate Company in Christchurch as 'sales manager and remained with the company’ until 1968 when he rejoined Kempthomes, this time in the fertiliser division as a field officer and technical adviser.

In this capacity, taking soil and herbage samples for analysis and making recommendations for fertiliser usage on land in grass and crop and being farmed and in horticulture, he says that he has enjoyed meeting many splendid people and the outdoor life. It has been his custom to spend four days a week out of doors and one day in the office. His territory has been between the Selwyn River and Kaikoura. with occasional visits also to the West Coast. He says that there are probably more than 2000 holdings in this area • and while he does

not claim to have visited them all he has been on many.

He has derived much satisfaction from people whom he has dealt with subsequently contacting him to invite him out to see how well his recommendations have worked out, but he adds that he has been equally interested where the results have not been so good being keen in those situations to find out where things have gone wrong.

One of the conclusions that he has reached as a result of his work among farmers and on farmlands is that there is still a lack of appreciation of ’ the need for phosphatic fertiliser on most pasture land. He says that there are certainly pockets of cropping land well endowed with the necessary plant nutrients but most alluvial soils and hill soils were relatively low in phosphorus and so needed

an input of phosphatit fertiliser. People often asked him when they should stop applying fertiliser. He said that he had asked people a lot more knowledgeable than himself without getting an answer. He does not believe thai: there is much wastage of fertiliser — the price now’, he observes, no doubt: takes care of that. But in spite of current high prices for super and other fertilisers he says that reduction in usage has only been minimal. Now in his area he notes that about 70 pet cent of total sales of fertiliser are applied by aircraft. Mr Lyttle has an understanding of the lot of the farmer with al! the uncertainties of weather and markets. He says that farming is something that is fraught with difficulties. He is by no means certain that the outlook now market wise is as bright as many people would have farmers believe. He says that it is possible to make assessments and to budget for certain things to happen but there are so many imponderables. He is one who believes that there is a need for more understanding between the rural and urban sectors of the community. It is something that he feels cuts both wavs. ■ Perhaps his interest in and understanding of farmers is not just a matter of his background and his work, for he is also a small farmer himself out of working hours, having a 3.5 ha block in northern Christchurch where he runs sheep and also grows flowers commercially. He says that farmers seem to appreciate the sort of advisory service provided by Ravensdown and other fertiliser companies. He says it is something of a bonus in that it is a service that the farmer receives for a very modest cost. He normallv has a backlog of 25 to 30 people waiting to be visited and likes to group these io avoid unnecessary travel. Since the company stopped carrying out comprehensive trials on farms, he says that he has encouraged farmers to do their own trials, which helps them to think about what they are doing with fertilisers. While giving up his present job at the end of next month, Mr Lyttle will not be cutting his ties with Ravensdown. for in the new year he will be returning for a period to work on matters relating to company shareholding. While he will still be available on a limited basis for advisory work, from the beginning of the new year farmers in what has been his area wanting technical advice will have to make their inquiries through the Christchurch office of the company.