The Fertiliser Problem

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 45, 28 January 1916, Page 7

The Fertiliser Problem

Reprint from the "Auckland Weekly News," November 25th, 1915.

NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION.

INCREASED DEMANDS. EFFECT ON PRODUCTION. There can lie little doubt that one of the most importanl factors in the future development of New Zealand agriculture is an abundant supply of cheap fertilisers. With the great increase in the price of land, the steady advance in the value of farm products, the old methods of farming could not be continued successfully. It was quite reasonable to depend entirely upon grass fpr dairying when good grass land was only *£lo an acre. When the same land rose to £2O an acre the financial position was altogether different. It was averagely profitable to depend upon native for sheep when wool was the only salable product of our flocks, but when refrigeration made the carcase of a sheep or lamb more vnlimble than the fleece root, crops and fodder crops became a necessil y.

The financial success of farming, as of every other business, depends upon the proportion of returns in relation to the amount of capital in use, and it may be accepted as a fact that fertilisers, in conjunction with .ood seeds and cultivation, is the predominating feature in lifting returns on the capital invested in land. We have so much accumulated evidence of the very large profits derived from topdressing pastures and from manuring all forms of crops tint there is no longer'any need to supply arguments in favour of these procedures. The main need nowadays for New Zealand is to make sure of securng for itself an ever-increasing supply of fertilisers at a reasonable cost, and to utilise wherever possible tiie natural fertiliser resources of the country. At the present time the by-products from our freezing works form the greatest source of our home fertiliser supplies, and the bulk of materials used by farmers have to be imported. That New Zealanders should depend to such a large extent upon imported fertilisers could only be excused if there was no other way of securing regular supplies, but the average high cost of these importations, the disorganisation of the fertiliser markets due to the war, and the immense increase in prices just at a time when the use of fertilisers was so necessary, shows that it is fully time that we should make some change in this class of business and organise it to our own advantage. If it will pay British am ! Continental manufacturers to take raw material from Pacific islands, carry it across the seas for treatment and bring it back to us over .12.000 miles of .ocean, it should pay us to bring it from the islands to our own shores and work it up with our own labour.

There are undoubtedly in this country natural resources of fertilisers in the shape of phosphatic rocks. Some deposits of this material are already worked in Otngo, several are known to exist in North Auckland and other parts of New Zealand, and there are probably many valuable deposits which have not yet been discovered. Sources of mineral potash have not yet been discovered, but it is by no means impossible that they exist, and we have certainly potash-bearing materials which can be utilised when the fertiliser industry is properly organised. Our nitrogen resources are comparatively large, but remain almost unused for Jack of the necessary plant, and we have unusually great deposits of sulphur, which, besides being a fertiliser in itself, is largely used in the manufacture of fertilisers. If New Zealand can utilise its own native fertilisers and manufacture fertilisers from the raw material known to exist in adjacent countries, there is every reason to believe that

not only can very large and profitable in-' dustries be built up, but that all thd various branches of agriculture can bo made to benefit. At the present time New Zealand imports nearly half a million pounds' worth of fertilisers each year, and this in itself could keep several fertiliser industries going, but the use of fertilisers in this country is only just beginning. Not only have we had the use of great areas of virgin land which possessed the accumulated fertility of thousands of years, but up to the present time we have been following a very simple form of farming, which made but Ttile drainupon the fertility of the soil. Unfortunately the virgin lands of New Zealand hare been largely depleted of their natural fertility. The Government inquiry into the condition of the pastoral runs ia Canterbury and Otago shows that a proportion of this naturally-grassed conn-, try has been so injured by overstocking and injudicious burning that it has become practically a useless desert, and can only be made productive again by the use of fertilisers and by resowing with hardy grasses. It is also a recognised fact that the millions of acres of forest country in the North Island which during the past twenty years has been cleared, burnt, and grassed by industrious settlers, does no| continue, as some people suppose, to form permanent pasture, but trradually ajid surely goes off in quality 9 unless fefertilised. It is estimated that even firstclass bush country pasture loses from, 15 to 20 per cent, of its stock-carrying .capacity in from twelve to fifteen years, and after that time, if not top-dressed with suitable fertilisers, deteriorates rapidly. In these two cases alone there is undoubted proof that the use of fertilisers in New Zealand must very largely increase in the near future. But the topdressing of South Island sheep runs and North Island bush farms is by no means the only factor in the increased use \of fertilisers. There are still large areas M second and third-class arable country in New Zealand which can only be brought into use by cultivation and manuring. In the North* Island the gum lands and the pumice country are typical examples. On both classes of soils excellent results have been won by modern methods, and there are four or five million acres in the Auckland Province alone which have yet to.-be brought into use, and this class of land alone will require enormous amounts of fertilisers yearly. ,; -

It oan be readily seen, if one studies the position even casually, that where hundredweights of fertilisers have been used in the past there will be a demand 'jn the future for the same number of tons. New Zealand, instead of importing £500,000 worth of fertilisers annually, will require probably two or three million pound*' worth, so that the importance of making suitable provision for this demand is apparent. To those who have no experience of farming the expenditure of huge sums on fertilisers may seem to be an enormous and crushing tax upon the country. Such, however, is not the case. By judicious methods of agriculture every pound spent upon fertilisers can be made to yield two or more extra in produce. Experience has shown that money spent upon manure returns a better interest than almost any other form of investment.

One thing is absolutely certain, and that is. New Zealand in the future must use an enormously increased amount of manure. Another thing is eaually certain, and that is, the increased use of manures will increase the production of crops and stock out of all proportion to the cost. This being the case, it is obvious that for their own benefit New Zealanders are bound to secure for themselves the necessary supplies of fertilisers, and the mora thoroughly and completely they organise for this purpose the better will it bB for, all concerned.