MORE FERTILIZER FOR FARMERS

Southland Times, Issue 25434, 5 August 1944, Page 6

MORE FERTILIZER FOR FARMERS

Shipping Difficulties

Overcome (P.A.) WELLINGTON, August 4. For the present rationing year an extra 132,000 tons of superphosphate or its equivalent in serpentine superphosphate is available. Dairy farmers will receive 80,000 tons of this on the basis of lewt. for each cow. The balance will go to appeals in hardship cases and to provide additional fertilizers for annual crops. This is a 20 per cent, increase on the 28 per cent, ration adopted as a wartime necessity, it was explained by the Minister of Agriculture and Marketing (the Hon. B. Roberts, in an address to the Dominion Dairy Conference. He added that shipping had been the bottleneck causing the difficulties. , The proposals for the payment of a subsidy on crops grown for pig feeding had been completed with the National Pig Industry Council, the Minister said. Application and notification of intention to claim the subsidy were to be made when the crop was reasonably established, and-the claim itself was to be made about 14 days before the crop was fed off or harvested, but in no case was it to be made after June 30, 1945. It would be paid at the rate of £5 an acre on the basis of 10 pigs of any age. Each sow due to farrow before July 31, 1945, was to be counted as seven pigs in computing the number of pigs in hand. >

Discussing the heifer caif subsidy, the Minister said the dairy industry had asked for £1 a head on all heifer calves raised. That would involve £350,000. The Government had suggested £2 a head on every heifer calf reared above one-seventh of the total cows in herds of seven cows or more to be milked during the 1944-45 season. The Government considered that both schemes had a weakness in that they did not necessarily result in an increased number of heifer calves being raised and that the industry should automatically rear its normal replacements. Today an additional 50,000 to 100,000 heifer calves were required. Mr Roberts suggested that the conference should consider the two subsidy alternatives and he would give very favourable consideration to its recommendations.