Rise and fall of lucerne crop

Press, 4 June 1982, Page 18

Rise and fall of lucerne crop

Lucerne for the 1980 s: Agronomy Society of New Zealand, D.5.1.R., Private Bag, Christchurch, $l2 post free. Reviewed by Howard Bezar.

The Agronomy Society of New Zealand has published “Lucerne in the Eighties," which is a review of the development of the crop over the last 15 years, a period in which lucerne rapidly increased in popularity, then just as quickly declined. Many of the reasons put forward for the decline of lucerne since 1975 are .examined in this review. Il is clear with hindsight that probably the major contributing factor to the decline during the 1970 s was the series of unusually wet seasons. Much of the advantage of lucerne over pasture was lost in these years,"and the advent of new pests and diseases may also have contributed. ;; Nevertheless, the book is remarkably optimistic about the future of liicerne in New Zealand.

. It covers establishment, management, pests, diseases, weed control, nutrition and breeding. The contributing authors presented their initial papers at the 1981 Lincoln College Farmers’ Conference.

Since then, the editor of the book, Dr Robert WynnWilliams of Crop Research Division, D.5.1.R., Lincoln, has very adequately improved the readbility of the g papers, reproduced the discussions which followed each paper, and added a glossary and index and an excellent bibliography which contains everything written about lucerne in New Zealand since the turn of the century. The book is thoroughly readable. It has particular relevance to the South Island, being .produced in Canterbury by authors who have mainly worked in the South Island. It will no doubt find its way onto the bookshelves of most farmers, students and professional agriculturalists.