N.Z. Farm Advisers “Better Trained”

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31003, 8 March 1966, Page 18

N.Z. Farm Advisers “Better Trained”

New Zealand agricultural advisers are better trained, at the post-graduate level, than Australians, according to Mr A. S. Rodda, who comes from the Ninety-Mile Desert area of South Australia. A number of New Zealand farm advisers in South Australia, and more in West Australia, “are doing a great job.” Mr Rodda hopes that more qualified men can be recruited

in New Zealand, because training facilities in Australia cannot keep up with the demand.

Mr Rodda is leading a touring party from the Federation of South Australian Farm Advisory Services. Eighteen members, 15 with their wives, arrived at Auckland on February 23, and most of the party will leave Harewood next Friday. The tour follows a visit to South Australia, last May, by members of the Te Awamutu Farm Improvement Club. The group had been struck by the greenness and beauty of New Zealand, and by the intensity of the farming, said Mr Rodda. Largely because of higher rainfall, even poor country in the North Island could carry more sheep to the acre than would be possible in good areas of South Australia. Dairy production had been especially interesting, because —with 14 to 30 inches of rain a year—even the more fertile areas to the south of South Australia carry mainly sheep and wheat. Canterbury, with its low rainfall, was more similar to South Australia than the other parts of New Zealand Mr Rodda had seen. Since coming to the South Island, the tourists have seen farms in Marlborough and North Canterbury. On Monday, they travelled from Hanmer Springs to Christchurch. Before they leave, they intend to see as much as they can of Mid-Canterbury and South Canterbury. A visit to Lincoln College is also planned.