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Story: Soils and regional land use

Topdressing hill country

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Topdressing hill country

Farming in New Zealand hill country would be impossible without the aerial topdressing of fertiliser on steep and often inaccessible pastures. Regular topdressing and controlled grazing helps stop sown pastures reverting to scrub and weeds.

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Natural Sciences Image Library of New Zealand

Reference: Ag4710Rbt.tif

by G. R. Roberts

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How to cite this page

Allan Gillingham, Soils and regional land use – Central and western North Island, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/17098/topdressing-hill-country (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Allan Gillingham, published 1 March 2009.