POTATO PRICES

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23699, 25 July 1942, Page 3

POTATO PRICES

NEXT SEASON’S PROPOSALS EARLY GROWERS PENALISED North Otago potato growers are criticising the scale of prices for next season’s potato crop. On paper the £35 a ton for October potatoes certainly looks most attractive. That is if you have them. But if they are £IOO a ton the North Otago grower, or the South Island grower for that matter, would still not have them. The' statement from North Otago is that if the schedule of prices for early potatoes as recommended by the Minister is incorporated in the Price Tribunal’s order the majority of North Otago growers will not bother to plant the main crop. This is very serious and disappointing in view of the great need there is in war time to restore the potato acreage to something like it was a decade or more ago. Seasonal Distinctions The trouble seems to be, as it is with other products, that the fact of the season being much later in the south than in the north cannot impfess the official mind. These seasonal distinctions in the North Island apply quite rightly; in the South Island quite wrongly. So it is with'potatoes. The earliest of new potatoes in the South Island appear near the end of November, and the price recommended ranges from £2O a ton in mid-Novem-ber down to £l4 a ton In December, or a maximum of 2d per lb. In the latter half of October, when early potatoes are available in the North Island, the price is from £25 to £3O a ton, or approximately 3d per lb. October is a better producing month in the north than the latter half of November is in the south, yet southern growers are to receive a 50 per cent, lower price. For all the potatoes that are available in November in the south not much money would be involved if potatoes were £SO a ton. It is the lack of distinction in the seasonal conditions between the two islands that irritates the southern grower. Main Crop Potatoes The price recommended for main crop southern potatoes is certainly not unsatisfactory, although it does not look well when the cost of sacks is deducted. But it is hard to understand why a premium of £2 a ton should be granted to growers of North Island main crop. If the same inducement were offered southern growers there would be no need for official pleadings to grow more potatoes. The difference between £7 15s a ton and £ll a ton is to be paid by way of increments between June and November. This may create a similar difficulty to that operating this season—farmers declining to deliver in the earlier months because of the substantial later increments. The experience of the present season should make the authorities attentive to this possibility. Possibly the belief that the North Island will respond to the £2 a ton extra inducement for its main crop may be the explanation of these continued generous later increments. If the increments were not sufficiently attractive _ MayJune deliveries might be tumbling in on top of the ample supply expected to be then available from the special inducement to northern growers. Surplus Potatoes The provision of £7 15s a ton for any surplus crop, which the Minister says will serve as a guarantee against financial loss, is a commendable proposal, as it should relieve any anxiety about the disposal of a bumper crop. But this question of surplus potatoes seemingly will not be determined until November, when they may be sp deteriorated and ’ sprouted that few of them will grade as table. The value of the- provision is dependent on the standard of grading imposed.