SOIL CONSERVATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26773, 17 May 1948, Page 6

SOIL CONSERVATION

RELATION TO FOOD PRODUCTION CANADIAN’S OFFICIAL’S VIEWS The importance of soil conservation to food production was stressed by the director of the Canadian farm rehabilitation programme, Mr L. B. Thomson, in a recorded broadcast address last night. Mr Thomson, who is a New Zealander, visited this country earlier in the year, when he was superintendent of soil experimental stations in Western Canada. Soil conservation was,, a great problem in Canada and the United States, said Mr Thomson, and from what he had seen in three months it was a problem to be solved also in New Zealand. In Canada as .much as 76 tons of soil had been lost by water erosion from an acre .of gently sloping land in an hour. “If the experiences of other countries means anything, it is time to study more fully losses by erosion,” he added. Discussing ways of conserving the soil, Mr Thomson said that irrigation was comparatively new in New Zealand, but the projects in Canterbury and Otago had been well constructed. He felt that irrigation in New Zealand had a promising future. Irrigation could give an insurance to grass and crop production during the summer in many parts of the country, and every possible scheme should be investigated. “We cannot ignore land conservation now because market prices are high,” Mr Thomson declared. “What we do to-day may ruin the land tomorrow.” Other countries regarded conservation and the better use of the land as the key to their agricultural programme. Exporting countries such as Canada and Argentina were recognising the fact that efficient production was essential if they were to place products on the world markets at a reasonable cost to the consumer.