RESEARCH ON THE FARM.

Shannon News, 18 May 1928, Page 3

RESEARCH ON THE FARM.

k ♦■ ' AN HISTORIC CONFERENCE^

' Conclusions of importance to agriculture in all parts of the Empire are ■ cdntained in the report, now published, of the recent Imperial Agricultural Research Conference. This conferj ence, the first of its kind ever held in the history of the Empire, met in London and toured Great Britain during last autumn and was attended by delegates from home, from all the Dominions and from almost all the colonies. The ' conference was jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and by the Empire Marketing Board. . Agriculture, the report points out, is by far the most important industry within the British Empire; even in England and Wales, with its urban conditions, the annual agricultural output reaches the figure of £225,000,000. The Empire's agriculture is representative of a vast range of conditions and problems. It is practised in some of the hottest and coldest and some of the wettest and driest and some of the most fertile and apparently some of the most barren parts of the world. As Lord Balfour has pointed out, there is no problem which affects any" part of the world's agriculture which does not also affect the British Empire. Some of the agriculture goes back to an unexampled historical past, and some of 'the newest and least-touched surfaces of the globe are represented. As regards the improvement in this agriculture which is of so momentous importance for the Empire's prosperity there is one matter on which all are agreed, and that is that one means to this end is the conduct of research into the many and varied problems which confront the agricultural community in all the Empire's territories, with a view to increasing output m amount or quality or cheapening its cost of production. Great as are the services which science has rendered to agriculture, it is possible that the advantages so far conferred are as nothing to the gains which will-accrue from the continuance and intensification of its aid. Governments all over the world are awakening to these possibilities. In the United Kingdom an organisation for . agricultural research has been created since the war at a cost which, for instance, in comparison with that in the United States of America, is relatively small. The great, Dominions of Canada, Australia, New ! Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free ; State and the Indian Empire have also taken care to foster research m agriculture, with {noteworthy results, ot i which the expansion of the wheat area ! of Canada and the control of animal | diseases in South Africa may be giv- i I en as- examples. Three important schemes are recom- I mended in the report: First, the setting j up throughout the Empire of a '«chain of agricultural research stations; sec- ! ondly, the setting up in the United [ Kingdom of clearing houses of information in agricultural sciefice, which shall serve the whole Empire; and ] thirdly, the recruitment, training and ; interchange! 'of scientific workers in agriculture for the whole Empire. On the first question, the "chain of research stations," the conference laid it down that these should be es-, tablished according to the needs for research on particular subjects rather than by considerations of geographical , distribution, and that they should, in the main, confine themselves to long range and wide range research. Further, that unless an annual maintenance expenditure of the order ot per station were in sight, the establishment of any station must be delayed, Stations wei'e discussed, in, respectively, Queensland, Ceylon, East Africa, West Africa, and the Federated Malay States. A station for copra and sugar research was mentioned. A central station for irrigation problems was further proposed. Several of these projects are now actively being pursued.

On the second question, that 'of Imperial clearing houses of information, two bureaux— namely, for entomology and mycology—are already in existence, and the conference recommended that further bureaux should be established in soil science, in animal nutrition, and in animal health: the first at the Itothamsted Experimental Station, at Harpenden, in Hertfordshire; the second at the Kowett Kescareh Institute, in Aberdeen; and the third m London. The conference, further, recommended that Imperial clearing houses on a smaller scale, or correspondence centres, as they were termed, should be established for animal genetics, agricultural . parasitology, plant genetics and fruit production; the lirst at Edinburgh University, the second at the London School of Hygiene, the third at Cambridge University, and the fourth at the East Mailing Research Station, East Malting}, Kent. It was considered that a sum of 000 per annum in all should suffice for these new Imperial clearing houses ot information.

On the third subject, that of recruitment and training, the recommendations relate to the standards and requirements of a colonial agricultural service and recruitment for this service, including a scholarship scheme and the training of agricultural scholars under such scheme. Of equal interest, are the recommendations regarding study leave and interchange of workers. It was considered that facilities for study leave are essential to the success of an agricultural service, that existing facilities were, in general, inadequate, and that provision to make study leave possible was an urgent necessity.

The conference had no fewer than eleven specialist committees on veterinary science, animal nutrition, animal geneties, dairying, soils and fertilisers, plant breeding, plant pathology, fruit, entomology, preservation and transport and agricultural economics, and

many important recommendations re late to these specialist subjects. The report is published by H.M Stationery Office at Is net (with pos tag© la sd).