FARM RESEARCH.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 26 May 1928, Page 16

FARM RESEARCH.

HISTORIC CONFERENCE. IMPORTANT CONCLUSIONS REACHED.

Conclusions of importance to agriculture iu all parts of the Empire arc contained in the report, now published, of the recent Imperial Agricultural Research Conference. This conference, the first of its kind ever held in the history of the Empire, met in London and toured from home, from all the Dominions and from almost all the Colonies, The conference was jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture tnd Fisheries and by the Empire Marketing Board.

“There lias been no conference of an Imperial character which has been more harmonious, more definite in its objectives, more constructive in its deliberations and decisions, or more calculated in its results not only to contribute to the ever growing solidarity of the Empire, but materially to affect its future prosperity and happiness,” stated Lord Blodisloe in a speech, quoted in the ‘ ‘ Report. ’ ’

Agriculture, the report states ,is "toy far the most important industry within the British Empire; even in England and Wales, with its urban conditions, the annual agricultural output reaches the figure of £225,000.000.

The Empire’s agriculture is representative of a vast range of conditions and problems. It is practised in some of l ive hottest and coldest and some of the wettest and driest and some of the most, fertile and apparently some of the most barren parts of the world. As Lord Balfour lias stated, there is no problem which affects any .part of the world’s agriculture which does not also affect the British Empire. Some of the agriculture goes back to an unexampled historical past, and in some of the newest and least-touched surfaces of the globe are represented.

WONDERS OF SCIENCE. As regards the improvement in this agriculture which is one of so momentous importance for the Empire’s prosperity, there is one matter on which all are agreed ,and that is one that means to this end is the conduct of research into the many and varied problems which confront the agricultural community in all the Empire’s territories, with a view to increasing output in amount or quality or cheapening its cost of production. Scientific investigation has already done wonderful things for the farmer. It has led to the use of artificial manures, to the production of farmyard manure without the intervention of the animal, to the breeding of varieties of cereals with improved cropping capacities and powers of resistance to disease and unfavourable climatic conditions, to the employment of insects in the suppression of such of their kind as are injurious to crops, and to the use of chemicals of various kinds in the killing of insects and fungi. It has enabled the fruit grower to select the type of fruit tree which he requires to suit any given set of conditions. Then, so far as the animal is concerned, it lias provided laws which enable animals with desired characteristics to be bred. Through the elucidation of the physiology of animals, the composition of their carcase and the composition of foodstuffs, it. has enabled economical rations to bo compounded giving, to the maximum, the results desired whether in production of meat milk or milk. It has placed powerful measures in the hands of veterinarians and. practical farmers enabling them to combat diseases of live stock. In the benefits brought about on the engineering side agricultural conditions nowadays have only to be compared with those, for instance, recorded in the Bible to realise the distance that has been travelled. Machinery is in use on the farm for the cultivation of the soil for hoeing, harvesting, threshing and many other processes. In the near future the internal combustion engine may bring about a revolution in farming equally with that in road transport.