Aerial Topdressing Is Essential

Chronicle (Levin), 31 May 1949, Page 4

Aerial Topdressing Is Essential

MASTERTON, May 30. "The successful aerial topdressing experiments just concluded in the Wairarapa, make it essential that we plan further to inerease the primary production of our eountry," stated Mr. L. T. Dani.ell, at the annual meeting of the Wairarapa provincial executive oi Federated Farmers, today. "If 100ton field trials are to be the limit of our intention, the back eountry of Wanganui and Raetihi should have prioritv but if large scale extra food production is aimed at, the big sheep eountry oi Hawke's Bay, Poverty Bay and North Auckland must be the operation areas.' From our experiments, Federated Farmers and many others in the eommunity are convinced that large scale topdressing services for New Zealand liili eountry are urgentlv required for 1050. The target should be 100,000 tons ot superphosphate spread ou 1,000,000 acres and this object couid be achieved urith 12 to 20 planes, choosing the tenton multi-purpose military transporcs which Britain has adopted as her standard. Now that the Berlin situation has eased and the airlift has time for ad.•justment, it should be possible to fly a squadron or two of these Hastings planes to this, our food front. It mav be object ed that even given big planes the shortage of supeqihosphate will be the bottleneek 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 topdi'essing, and also to-oo-tain the necessary fertiliser, was unanimously carried.