M.A.F. wants Canterbury to ‘double production’

Press, 6 May 1983, Page 18

M.A.F. wants Canterbury to ‘double production’

Ashburton reporter The objective set for Canterbury by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is the doubling of agricultural production, according to the director of research in the Northern South Island, Mr A. D. H. Joblin.

Mr Joblin was speaking at a meeting of the Agriculture Section of Mid-Canter-bury Federated Farmers but he told his audience that the increase was likely to come through other types of production than cropping. The Agriculture section for the past few months has expressed concern at what it believes may be a downturn in research by M.A.F. on arable crops and it pre-

sented a. discussion paper for Mr Joblin to comment upon. The section said it believed the time was right for an increase into the research of arable crop for two main reasons. The first was that traditional crops — wheat, barley, peas, grass, clover — were not bringing buoyant market prices. “To make us competitive on world markets we must maximise on yields and quality and also produce the cultivars the markets require,” the section said.

Farmers were endeavouring to help by a levy on herbage seed to be used for its promotion. They had

combined with the D.S.I.R. and merchants to form the Seeds Promotion Council.

The plan was to increase the .potential of crops that farmers could grow and to reverse the trend of a shrinking market. To achieve the industry’s aims an informed research and advisory service was necessary to back up the total seeds’ industry.

The section’s second main reason for calling for an increase in research was that with new irrigation schemes planned it believed that in the next 10 years the potential irrigated area of cropping soils would double in Mid-Canterbury alone. Ministry budgets on those

new schemes made it obvious that good soil must be cropped to service the costs of these new schemes. The “massive increase” in potential production woqld require back-up on existing crops as well as marketorientated research into new crops.

They would be a combination of seed production and food crops, such as raddish, lucerne, and seed for sprouting, or new crops, herbs, or some not yet even considered, the section said.

Mr Joblin said that there had to be “real growth” in Canterbury and that meant a substantial increase in production was needed. That expansion would only happen and be sustained if it was profitable. That meant market realisations had to be considered and there were factors affecting cropping. They were the big cost of getting Canterbury crops to the North Island which was the main market, and expected competition from Australia under Closer

Economic Relations and through other freer markets.

The other factor against an increase in cropping was that in any expansion of production of anything it had to be possible to be able to argue that it could be grown much more efficiently here than elsewhere. “So given those three conditions as we see them we do not see very much of the doubling of this production coming in cropping,” said Mr Joblin.

“In fact, the problem is going to be keeping up the present level of production, given this new competition.” He noted that there had been marketing changes, such as barley pools and other developments and in a “New Zealand sense” the soils and climate were good for crop production and it was known by “sums” that S production was the use of irrigation, particularly from wells. He expected that cropping was likely to become more intense with farmers

specialising. The. Ministry had not "written off’ crop production. There were 46 trials being done at present on conventional crops, including 21 with wheat and six with barley. The Ministry would react if needed for further research, he said, and he believed that that had been proven when the likelihood arose that beet would be grown in Canterbury. Within three weeks a plan was made and within six weeks five scientists were working on the research. Negotiations were begun then to bring a United States scientist in also. The trials were run for three years and the Ministry now had 90 per cent of the knowledge needed to grow beet if it was required. •The Ministry would respond again if needed but it was essential that it was convinced that the research was necessary.

Mr Joblin faced many other questions, mainly centring on the desire to increase yields through more research, but he assured farmers that there would be research as long as there was a sound basis for it.