WIDE SCOPE FOR TOP-DRESSING IN N.Z. FROM THE AIR

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 September 1950, Page 3

WIDE SCOPE FOR TOP-DRESSING IN N.Z. FROM THE AIR

A recommendation that steps be taken at once to further the major scheme for the aerial top-dressing of hill lands on New Zealand to combat erosion and to increase the productivity of the soils is made in the annual report of the Soil Conservation Rivers Control Council tabled in the House of Representatives this week. After surveying the experimental work and the recent large-scale demonstration by the R.N.Z.A.F. in conjunction with the council and the Department of Agriculture, the report referred to the interest aroused in Britain and to the development there carried out by the Bristol Aircraft Co. following a visit to the Dominion of officials of the company, and to the rapid expansion of the work in New Zealand by the operators of light aircraft.

In the past three months, these operators have distributed more than 3000 tons of superphosphate and the increasing demand for tins service indicated the satisfaction of ful'iners with this method for the fringes of the lull country The council recommended that a flight of three suitable aircraft should bo obtained to undertake a three to six months' task to make possible the evalution and costing of large-scale work by freighter aircraft of substantial capacity which would be complementary to the work already being done by light aircraft. The tremendous significance of the development, stated the report, was emphasised by the following facts:— "Top-dressing with phosphate is one of the most practical and effective methods of combating soil erosion in New Zealand, as the lands affected are dominantly hill-country grasslands. Several million acres of hill pastures require top-dressing. “Top-dressing not only arrests deterioration, which is too prevalent, but it increases production, cover, and stability of the soil. The response to top-dressing is measured by the threefold increase in meat, seven-fold increase in butter, and the twenty-fold increase in cheese during the past forty years, largely resulting from top-dressing of easy ploughable land. “Experience shows that there is a much larger area of hill land the production of which can be raised from one to more than two sheep per acre by top-dressing and oversowing with clover seed if coupled with prudent management. The further development of New Zealand’s farming resources is being stifled because the highly responsive soils are being starved of phosphate. “The output of superphosphate from works in New Zealand—up to 600,000 tons annually—is sufficient only to top-dress 6,000,000 acres of the 30,000,-000-odd acres farmed. The great bulk of our exports—£lso,ooo 000—are the products of our grasslands, but no more than £1,000,000 worth of phosphate is imported to offset the drain of this fundamentally important material.”