4:42 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. 



A Movement to Promote Greater and more Economic 



Prodviction. 



The insistent and universal demand for greater agricultural produc- 

 tion brings into prominence one of tlie chief iactors which will enable 

 the world's producers to cope a\ itli the call for more foodstuff — the 

 extended and intellig-ent use of agricultural machinery. It is common 

 knowledge that with the passing of the years there has taken place a 

 perceptible improvement in the various classes of machinery designed 

 to aid the agriculturist, and labour-saving devices have steadily come 

 into use. But agricultural machinery does not yet occupy the place 

 it should in the economy of the farm, due chiefly, no doubt, to cheap- 

 ness of labour and also to a measure of conservatism usual to the fann- 

 ing industry which moves deliberately where any change from farming 

 methods of the past is concerned. It must be admitted, however, 

 that the employment of agricultural machinery is fraught with many 

 problems to the farmer. There are numerous classes and types of 

 machinery on the market, and to a large extent the farmer is dependent 

 upon the advice of the implement manufacturer or his agent in select- 

 ing any machine or implement he may be thinking of l)uying. It is 

 true that he may ha^se the advice of his neighbours or of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, and may have had the opportunity of seeing* the 

 particular machine or implement at work, but notwithstanding these 

 aids, it is the experience of many farmers that they have often pur- 

 chased machinery of little use to them, being of a type unsuitable 

 perhaps to the locality, and agriculture has suffered as a consequence. 

 Another cause retarding the more extended and efficient use of labour- 

 aiding appliances to-day, is the lack of skilled workers. Owing to 

 the facilities for raising and feeding oxen, and the use of native 

 labour, South Africa has not hitherto felt a pressing need for certain 

 classes of machinery, the adoption of which has consequently been 

 slow. 



The war has brought about a change in the attitude of many 

 farmers, especially those in older countries, towards the use of 

 machinery, one of the chief causes of this new outlook being the 

 shortage of labour and the advance in the wages of farm workers. 

 Alive to the altered conditions, the pressing need for increased pro- 

 duction, and the great importance which the use of agricultural 

 machinery and implements will hold in the future develoj^ment of 

 agriculture, the Ministry of Ag-riculture and Fisheries, London, 

 appointed a Committee to iuquire into the many phases of the subject, 

 and we have before us a copy of the Committee's report* dealing 



* Report of the Departmental Committee on Agricultural Machinery (Ministry of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries), obtainable from His Majesty's Stationery Office, London. 

 Price Is. net (No. Cmd. 506). " , 



