SEED PRODUCTION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXX, Issue 20165, 20 July 1935, Page 15

SEED PRODUCTION

UNDEVELOPED BRANCH OF FARMING IN N.Z. DISTINCT POSSIBILITIES As a grass-seed producing country New Zealand stands among the leading agricultural countries of the world, but i as a producer of small seeds, such as I turnips, chou moellier, etc., we produce a very small amount, the bulk of our supplies being drawn from overseas sources. Efforts are being made to start this branch of farming on some of our small farms, but the process is a slow one. There are, doubtless, difficulties which will have to be encountered at first, but in most endeavours parallel circumstances can be shown which have been successfully overcome. Hawke’s Bay has made a great name for itself in the production of premier quality rye-grass and white clover seed. There is no apparent reason why similar results should not be achieved with the production of small seeds. At the present time New Zealand spends well over £50,000 annually on small seeds, such as swede seeed, for farm purposes. Why all this good money should be allowed to go out of the country is hard to understand, especially when, with a little planning, New Zealand could produce all the seed needed for its own requirements with plenty left over for the establishment of a flourishing and remunerative export trade. The Plant Research Station at Palmerston North, amongst its other activities, is demonstrating how this can be done. Research workers there are showing the way: the question is, will the country follow the lead they have given? Result of Trial Experience in the trials already undertaken has shown that the seed can be produced and in payble quantity. Should the resultant seeds find favour with merchants and farmers, the foundation will have been laid of a new rural Industry of great potential value. Such an industry because of its high per-acre value, large requirements of family labour, and low cost In equipment, is eminently suitable for the type of close settlement contemplated by the small-farm plan. Once successfully established its scope should widen to cover many other classes of seed, especially those in which freedom from seed-borne disease is of prime importance. If the infant industry is carefully controlled from its inception, under expert official supervision, there seems every likelihood that it will not only save New Zealand the £60,000 now spent abroad for these seeds, but that it may grow into a flourishing source of export. In order to make clear what has been done and what it is suggested should be done, the growing of swedes from seed may be taken as an example. The swede provides the most valuable fodder crop in New Zealand. It does well almost anywhere, from the light pumice soils of Auckland province to the heavy clp.ys of Southland. On mixed farms it is an essential crop in a balanced rotation, and on ploughable hill country it is unrivalled as a provider of winter feed. The full utilisation and maintenance of pasture depends on an adequate supply of stock to cope with the spring growth, and swedes, provide one of the best and cheapest fodders to carry that stock over the lean winter months.

The swede is thus of great national importance in maintaining the average stock-carrying capacity of the Dominion. Of recent years, however the area sown to swedes has steadily declined, and this for one reason only—the fear of disease. The two diseases of swedes—dry rot and club root—have become so widespread in incidence and so destructive in effect that the swede has become a risky and often unprofitable crop, to be replaced where possible by other less satisfactory but more certain fodders. Owing to disease, it is no longer safe to grow more than one crop of swedes in several years on any piece of land, and the continual breaking-up of established pasture, even where sufficient ploughable land is available, makes the cost and inconvenience of the crop more than it is worth. Disease Can Be Avoided For many years the Plant Research Station research workers have been in-

vestigating these two diseases, and their investigations have brought certain facts to light. One of these is that dry-rot infection is carried in the seed. If seed free from the disease is sown on land that has not carried a diseased crop for the past two seasons, nor is in the neighbourhood of swedes or turnips grown from Infected seed, then the resultant crop will remain free from dry rot. Another important finding is that club root can be practically controlled by the use of certain varieties or strains of seed which are highly resistant to the disease, if certain precautions are taken in the sowing.

It is obviously of great importance that adequate supplies of guaranteed dry-rot-free seed or club-root-resistant strains should be available to the farmers of New Zealand. Experimental work has shown how this can be done, much of the work being based on information obtained by Mr J. C. Neill, the Plant Research Station’s field mycologist, in the course of a thorough personal investigation of the methods used in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe. Without going into details of methods advocated by the Plant Research Station, it may be stated that an experimental trial plot of 10 acres has amply demonstrated the possibility of raising pure seed. The seedling plants were grown at the Plant Research Station from dry-rot-free mother seed selected and bred at the station. The seedlings were distributed for planting out and nearly a ton of seed per acre was harvested this last year. A Good Return The average value in the country of origin of imported swede and turnip seed is approximately a shilling per pound. Since turnip seed is generally cheaper than swede seed, it would seem reasonable to estimate a shilling per pound as a basis for the wholesale price of swede seed .grown in this country, even at the lower price-levels now ruling. A yield of lOcwt. at 1/per pound represents a gross return of £56 per acre. On the cost side must be debited rent of land, equipment, and labour. With this system of production rent and equipment costs are comparatively low, the main expenditure being in labour. For this reason the industry is particularly adapted to small holdings, where family labour can be fully utilised. It is estimated that an average family should be able, where the crop is the main source of revenue, to handle efficiently three acres of seeding swedes, providing a cash return of about £l5O. This compares very favourably with the returns possible from any other sourc® ou this class of holding.