Modern Agricultural Methods - Gatton Address

9 April 1945 Queensland Times (Ipswich)

Mr. J. W. Howie (horticulturist of the Gatton College) gave a most interesting address on "Some Impressions of Agriculture In New South Wales" at the recent meeting of the R.S.S.A.I.L.A. sub-branch.

The address was based on Mr. Howie's recent visit to New South Wales and his tour of various agricultural districts.

[Among other things-] He outlined the wonderful progress made at the fruit-growing centre of Batlow under a co-operative scheme, as a result of which the population of the town had grown from400 to 2000.

The dehydration plant at Batlow dealt with approximately 13,000,000lb. of dried vegetables in 1944, and it was the first district to produce dried vegetables for the armed forces.

It had dried 10,000 tons of potatoes, employing 114 men and 240 girls.

In addition to the dehydration work the Batlow Packing House Co-operative Ltd. packed yearly 250,000 cases of apples and pears, and put up 2000 gallons of orange juice weekly.

The splendid work done by the agency of machinery pools was explained by Mr. Howie, and the effect of the speeding up of production, as a result of which the whole scheme was running smoothly and working satisfactorily.