DIFFICULT YEAR

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 18, 1 November 1938, Page 7

DIFFICULT YEAR

CEREAL SOWINGS AFFECTED. WET WINTER CAUSES TROUBLE. A SHORTAGE ANTICIPATED. There is no doubt that the acreage of wheat in Mid-Canterbury, the centre of the grain-growing industry in the Dominion, will this year bo lower than it has been for some seasons past. The result, it is stated, is certain to Ijc a shortage of wheat, with consequent importations from Australia. The season has been dead against Mm wh at grower, and in the districts to the south-east of Ashburton growers have been faced with difficulties of surplus water on their paddocks to an extent never known tilt this winter. The summer was dry and the early part of the/ autumn was wet. Then came the dry month of May and a good deal of wheat was put in, but along came an unusually wet period, when springs welled up in many places where they had never been and paddocks (this applies particularly to the south-east section of the County) became waterlogged. Even on some of the light country where water had never been known to lie there were pools and running, streams.

Areas already sown were drowned out and resowings took place, but again the work went for nought till, with the passing of the winter and the land still very wet, there was no time to recondition the ground and resow. The Wheat Board bad appealed to growers to put in a greater quantity of wheat than last year and the growers, it is believed, would have responded but the conditions were all against them and the sowing of large areas was' out of the question. As one man put it the other day, “It is a good thing the growers can rely on what amounts to a guaranteed price.” All these upsets have changed the cropping programme of many parts of the district and numerous growers have sowed oats, peas and barley in preference to the risk of sowing wheat late in the season.

Perennial ryegrass seed of good quality is in short supply and the. present indications are that there will not bo the usual quantity shut up for seed. The shortage of feed has compelled farmers to put their stock on to the grass rather severely, and it is doubtful if the usual acreage of seed will be harvested. There was a warm dry spell for a few weeks and the surface moisture rapidly disappeared in most parts of the County but this lias been rectified by the recent mins, which should be a benefit to all pastures and crops.