Interesting, thanks. On the one hand you've got to appreciate the innovative, problem-solving spirit which can come up with some elegant solutions. Oftentimes though it will just create bigger problems further down the line, as with your example of one great new-fangled idea (crop dusting) literally crashing into another (haybale pulleys). It'd be nice to think that people are capable of learning some lessons over time!

I see from the wiki article that the idea of seeding / fertilising pasture from the air was only tried a little bit in the UK, mainly in Scotland. I guess that would be partly/mainly due to the population density and an infrastructure that has built up over a much longer time than in NZ, allowing for easier tractor access and not having such a vast acreage to manage (the export-orientation of the economy doesn't help with that either, I imagine). Didn't stop crazy schemes like ploughing steep uplands and seeding grass which would only last a few years until the gorse and bracken reclaimed it, as I saw in mid-Wales a few years back. What a genius idea!

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