Fixed Wheat Prices

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22245, 9 November 1937, Page 10

Fixed Wheat Prices

Many wheatgrowers will agree with the Temuka branch of the Farmers’ Union in its contention that a very much earlier announcement of the price for wheat would have secured this season a higher acreage being planted than has been the ease. The point has been raised ■tet mwm! tetteas printed » tk»4n«uNsp<rateaoe

columns of “ The Press,” and though the assertion that this year an early announcement would have made much difference is highly debatable and impossible of accurate assessment, it would have removed one of the frequently stated objections of growers. Farmers generally appear to be satisfied with the new price, and there is no adequate reason why it should not have been announced earlier in the year, at least early enough to allow spring sowing to be undertaken. This year the weather in the autumn and right through to the late spring was exceptionally bad for wheat. It is probable that there was more discouragement on this account than disappointment with the price paid last season. The prospect for the small grower, however, was not encouraging in face of continually rising costs and the attractiveness of other uses for his land, and there must have been a number who were not prepared to grow wheat at the old price. The small man is relatively worse hit by rising costs than the big man, because in general it is uneconomic' for the small grower to invest money in expensive machinery which may take the place of labour, even if he is able to afford to buy. A further advantage in the early announcement of the price is that the farmer would be able to arrange his finance much more satisfactorily, and not only finance for his wheat crop, which may be used merely as a security for advances for the purchase of ewes early in the year. There need be little fear in New Zealand eff a surplus of wheat. A carry-over has always been considered desirable to provide old wheat for mixing with the new for milling immediately after harvest, and the natural variation in yields and areas sown accounts eventually for any surplus. The Government has shown itself willing to listen carefully to the growers’ case, and should find no great difficulty in the way of announcing ih March, at least, the price for the following harvest. .