AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 June 1926, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

HttiHNTIiY NKKDED IN NEW ZEALAND (By'Tolegraph—SiicOial to The Mail.) C.URI>STC,U|,IRCiIv June 10. There js. not enough -lrironnation, I believe, in Uie minds of the farmers in New Zealand to make the best for themselves and for New Zealand. That remark was made by Mr J. D. Hall to the annual conference to-day of the North Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Fanners' Union. Mr Hall considered that the scheme for agricultural research was airy, and had not always been considered in its practical bearing- but the fact remained that the farmers did not know what they should about their work, and the farmers could not be taught how to improve their methods unless research was first carried out. For instance, take the case of grass, which was responsible for 93 per cent, of the exports of New Zealand and a similar percentage in home consumption. What improvements had been made in New Zealand's pastoral land in the last quarter of a century'! Certainly there was top dressing, "doping" the land, as it was called, but very little else. In this department alone a great deal of improvement was urgently needed and better methods could be carried out only by long and tedious experimental work. Varieties of gras*s should be experimented with. It must first be discovered what to tell the farmers to do before they could do it. It was vitally necessary that farmers should be taught the best methods possible. Recently Dr. A. H. Cockayne had said that 90 per cent, of the research work done in New Zealand in agriculture by the various organisations concerned was wasted because the experiments were not carried out 'uncle)* uniform conditions. In various places ihe work of experiment must be coordinated and carried out over a number of years in different places under similar conditions. The most necessary thing was to acquire the knowledge necessary to farmers by carrying out research work.