Science and the Farmer

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 25

Science and the Farmer

PROGRESS OVER 40 YEARS

Increasing Production

AMAZING- progress has been made in the farming industry over the past century. Science has solved many problems of the soil, and is being used more and more in an endeavour to secure for the man on the land full return for his labour.

Modern farming may be said to have begun about 40 years ago when the developments of transport enabled farm products to be sent all over the world, and so broke the monopoly which the home farmers had always previously enjoyed. It caused a revolution in farming, and science aimed at helping by increasing production an acre and a man, and in cheapening production by eliminating wastes and losses. The application of science to agriculture became possible because practical men had already built up sound systems of husbandry. The first great triumph of science was its introduction of artificial fertilisers, notably superphosphate, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, and potassic salts. These have added greatly to the productiveness of soils all over the world, giving large crops of cereals, potatoes, sugar beets, and other products, and they are now being used extensively in England and in Europe on grass land, adding greatly to the production of milk and meat. The Importance of superphosphate in developing New Zealand is now well known. It has been established that fertilisers not only - increase the crop, but alter its composition and habit of growth. This is being used to influence quality and especially to help the plant adapt itself to different weather conditions. Superphosphate encourages root development, and therefore helps the young filant to become established, and to send its roots down into the moist subsoil —a very valuable quality in dry seasons. Sulphate and muriate of potash increase the efficiency of the lea/, and so help the plant in a sunless season. This explains their importance in Northern Europe. In regions where the climate is fairly regular from season to season, this method of adjusting the crop to the climate by means of fertiliser is likely to be very useful when it is better understood, and in the uncertain climate of England it has already proved useful in levelling good and bad seasons, especially for the growth of fodder crops. Another direction in which science is helping agriculture is in the production of new varieties of crops better adapted to the conditions of the farm, or more resistant to disease than the old ones. These new varieties are being produced all over the world; Australia has produced varieties of wheat known everywhere, such as Farrar’s Federation. Some, such as Marshall 111., Huguenot, and Florence, are not only useful here, but are being used as a basis for breeding new types in other countries, such as Balastine. In recent years there have been increases in the number of plant diseases, and in these times of efficient transport diseases are liable to be carried from one country to another. Under cultivation, plants are more liable to disease than in the wild state. The most destructive crop disease in the history of mankind has been the ordinary potato blight (Phytophthera infestans). This is a native of South America, and it did not reach Europe until steamships began to make the journey from South America in such short time that they could carry vegetable products. About IS4O it got into Ireland, and swept the country with all the vigour of a new pest, destroying the potato crop on which the peasants lived, reducing them to starvation, so that thousands died in the terrible famine that followed. For 40 years Ireland was never free. Once the disease appeared the farmer was helpless. Of all the tyrants Ireland ever had the potato disease was the worst; it cost thousands of lives, untold suffering and misery, and millions in money. Then after 40 years science found a remedy, and the blight has never caused serious trouble since. A simple operation, spraying with Bordeaux mixture, avoided all the trouble. Another troublesome disease, much more recent, is the wart disease of potatoes. Happily, after much research. an immune variety was found from which a number of others have

been raised. The result has been that this disease, which might have been a catastrophe, has been merely a nuisance. To-day we are threatened with virus or mosaic diseases, such as the tomato wilt. These affect many, perhaps all, crops, and they are spreading everywhere. However, they are being closely studied by experts all over the world, and there is now for the first time a co-operative effort to cope with them. The plant pathologists are collaborating in a manner hitherto unknown, and although the problems are difficult we have every confidence that they will be satisfactorily solved. Perhaps the greatest triumph ' of science has been to bring into cultivation the waste places of the earth. First the trouble had to be diagnosed: sometimes it was lack of plant food; sometimes lack of water; sometimes too much salt. Soil chemistry is now so well advanced that the trouble can be located without difficulty. Remedies are being devised for all these troubles; Australia and California have

already done much in solving the problem of dry land cultivation. At present a very serious problem is associated with the salts often present in soil in semi-rigid regions. Directly irrigation begins, these are liable to cause alkali which may bring to nothing all the efforts of the engineer, and cause losses of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The achievements of science In agriculture are perhaps best summed up by comparing the prediction of Sir William Crookes in 189 S, with the accomplishments of agriculture to-day. Speaking with a full knowledge of science as it then was, he predicted that the world in 1931 would require 90,000,000 tons of wheat to feed its population, hut that this represented the utmost that the wheatgrowers of the world could produce. Afterwards the world would be faced with starvation. The accuracy of his forecast in regard to consumption shows how carefully he had made his calculation: the world does, as he predicted, require in 1928 from 90,000,000 to 100,000,000 tons of wheat. Science, however, has advanced to upset his calculations about the possible production. The 90,000,000 which he thought was the limit had been much exceeded even in 1911, and could be considerably exceeded to-day, if it was needed. The fear of world starvation has gone, and the achievements of science are only at their beginning. The problem before the world now is to ensure that the farmer shall get his fair share of the profit so as to encourage him to use all that science can teach him.