AERIAL TOPDRESSING URGENT NEED IN DRIVE FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 May 1949, Page 6

AERIAL TOPDRESSING URGENT NEED IN DRIVE FOR FOOD PRODUCTION

MASTERTON, Last Night (PA).— “The successful aerial topdressing experiments just concluded in the Wairarapa make it essential that we plan further to increase the primary production of our country,” stated Mr. L. T. Daniell at the annual meeting of the Wairarapa Provincial Executive of Federated Farmers today. If 100-ton field trials are to be the limit of our intention, the back country of Wanganui and Raetihi should have priority but if large-scale extra food production is aimed at, the big sheep country of Hawke’s Bay, Poverty Bay ana North Auckland must be the operation areas. From our experiments, Federated farmers ana many others in the community are, convinced that large-scale topdressing services for New Zealand hill country is urgently required. For 1950, the target should be 100,000 tons of superphosphate spread oh a million acres and this object could be achieved with 12 to 20 planes choosing the l()-toji multi-purpose military transports which Britain has adopted as her standard. Now that, the Berlin situation has eased and the air lift has time for adjustment, it should be possible to fly a squadron or two of these Hastings planes to this, our food front, it may be objected that even given big planes, the shortage of superphosphate will be the bottleneck, but today Europe is becoming superphosphate conscious and it is possible to buy and import superphosphate just as we have imported cement and coal.” A strong recommendation to the Government to take all possible and immediate steps to secure suitable planes for aerial topdressing and also to obtain the necessary fertilier was carried