Aust, farming struggling, fearful

Press, 24 May 1985, Page 21

Aust, farming struggling, fearful

Many sections of Australian farming appear to be struggling financially and are genuinely afraid of competition on their home market from New Zealand produce, according to Mr John Hayman, officer in charge of the Templeton Research Station of the M.A.F.

Mr Hayman recently spent two weeks in Australia as the first recipient of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science Arthur Yates Centenary Award. Most of his time was spent studying irrigation research and practice in Victoria and south western New South Wales.

Though irrigation covered large areas of Australia, it constituted only a tiny part of Australian farming, said Mr Hayman. Consequently two weeks looking at irrigation practice did not provide a comprehensive look at Australian agriculture. “However, from what I did see I concluded that many Australian farmers face an even more difficult financial situation than New Zealand. They have most of our problems without the boost in prices that devaluation brought in New Zealand.

“Also, in many areas they seem to lack a well organised and export oriented marketing structure. “In several fields (dairy produce and apples were two in the news during my visit), response to poor export prices was to reduce production to a level of domestic needs, where they can more easily maintain prices, rather than undertake an aggressive export marketing drive.” Many aspects of the irrigation scene in Australia

would be familiar to the New Zealand farmer, said Mr Hayman. The cost of water has risen three to four times in the last few years after being static for many years. “Farmers in Victoria are now paying sAustBo to sAustloo per ha per year for water from old schemes. The Government is questioning the economics of new irrigation development and reducing the level of subsidy available for new development. “They also have problems we don’t have in New Zealand. Salt contamination is one of these. Large areas of the very flat plains around the Murray River were once under the sea and contain a lot of salt in the sub soil. Over-irrigation causes the water table to rise and bring this salt into the root zone eventually killing all vegetation.” Expensive solutions are available and these usually involve shifting large quantities of soil to create enough fall on the border strip to minimise overwatering, and applying large dressings (12 tonnes per ha) of gypsum. The natural fall is minimal, about 1:2000, making it difficult to get water to run down the border strip. Recommended practice today is to shift soil and “lazer grade” to uniform slopes of 1:800 on border strips 40m wide. The gypsum is applied before sowing the pasture.

Very high summer temperatures mean pastures must be irrigated weekly, said Mr Hayman. “Many farmers spend three days per week for six months each year walking around in gumboots divert-

ing irrigation water with a shovel. Surprisingly there is almost no automatic irrigation.”

Mr Hayman said it was gratifying to see New Zealand firms among the most active in promoting the concept of automatic irrigation and selling their control units. Dairying In Victoria about 80 per cent of all irrigation is on pasture, and most of this is used for dairying. “Victorian dairy farmers have their backs to the wall. The average irrigated dairy farm milks 90 cows on 45ha and receives only sAust2.3o per kg of milk fat. Most of this milk goes into export dairy products. “In other states, where most milk goes to town supply, prices are nearer sAust4 per kg.” Since inter-state trade is severely restricted it is expected that Victorian dairying will contract to a domestic supply industry over the next few years, said Mr Hayman. “What will happen to the land taken out of dairying is not clear. Wheat growing is one option, but with farmers’ net returns as low as sAustllo per tonne for wheat this year, there was no enthusiasm to move in this direction.”

However, Mr Hayman said New Zealand wheat growers should not be complacent. Australia has had a very good wheat harvest and has huge stocks stored under plastic sheets awaiting shipment. Almost all of this is grown on very large

dryland farms where costs are kept low by the scale of operation, and they can make ends meet at prices as low as sAustllo per tonne.

Despite the current buoyant market for beef, Mr Hayman said he was unable to find anyone making use of surplus dairy calves for beef production.

Fruit trees Regulated deficit irrigation (R.D.1.) is a breakthrough for fruit tree irrigation pioneered by the Tatura Research Station in Victoria, said Mr Hayman.

“This is a most ingenious system of irrigation control. It both reduces tree growth to almost eliminate the need for pruning, while bringing new trees into production at a younger age, and maintaining or increasing fruit yield.” It is based on the fact that fruit grows very slowly in the early part of the season when the tree is making maximum shoot growth. When the fruit are

growing at their maximum, in the seven to eight weeks before harvest, shoot growth almost ceases due to competition for nutrients from the fruit. R.D.I. involves severely restricting irrigation in the spring to restrict shoot growth, followed by full irrigation during the seven weeks before harvest, to maximise fruit growth. The greater spring rainfall in Canterbury would probably make this system less effective here, but the principle of minimum irrigation to control shoot growth in spring and after harvest, can save costs without affecting production, said Mr Hayman.

Autumn lambs In some parts of Australia, the most reliable period for pasture growth was from late autumn to spring; therefore there was a lot of interest in autumn lambing, said Mr Hayman.

At the Cowra Research Station in New South Wales, a new sheep breed called Hyfer was being developed for autumn lambing. It is based on Polled Dorset ewes mated to Merino rams. These sheep are also being used in trials to produce lambs every eight months.

“While this approach may not suit many areas in New Zealand it is directly relevant to Northland. It may also become profitable in other areas if restructuring of the meat industry leads to premiums being paid for out of season stock to keep the freezing works open for more months of the year,” said Mr Hayman.