FARM MACHINERY

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24280, 10 June 1944, Page 3

FARM MACHINERY

ASSESSMENT OF VALUE RELATIONSHIP WITH WHEATGROWING The disappointing acreage in wheat last season and the prospect of no improvement for the next harvest bring aspects of the industry into consideration which are of as much importance to the farmer as that of growing sufficient crop-to tide the country over the next few years. A surprisingly large amount of capital is involved in machinery on wheatgrowing farms, and it would be an economic loss of some magnitude if the continued decline of the wheat acreage caused this machinery to be employed only part time. The only practical attempt that appears to have been made to secure and record an estimate of the capital involved in equipping a wheat farm with machinery was in 1931, when a Select Committee was appointed by the House of Representatives to investigate the costs of production. Since thaUtime machinery costs have altered out of all relationship, but the 1931 figures provide a basis on which a loose estimate may be made. The Tractor Increase The evidence tendered to the committee estimated the value of plant in and around the average farm at £SOO, which concerned 6000 wheatgrowers, or a total of £3.000.000. The witness in this case considered that 75 per cent, of this value, or £2.250,000, was concerned with wheatgrowing, Since then the number of wheatgrowers has increased, but in later years there has been a decline, but possibly the 1931 bstimate of 6000 would be on the conservative side to-day. However, accepting it as a basis the value of machinery on -the average wheat farm would be easily double, or £IOOO. In 1931, agricultural tractors in the country numbered 5023; in 1942, 13,967. On the basis of 1931 the proportion of today’s number employed on wheat farms would approximate 3000. At a current average value of £SOO these 3000 tractors could be assessed at £1,500,000, or on the basis of 75 per cent, farm use in 1931 a total of £1,250,000. In 1931 the comparative use would probably come within £300,000. Value of Headers Header, harvesters represent a much more striking illustration of the increase in the cost of equipping a wheat farm with machinery. The first header harvester was introduced in 1929. Next season there were seven, and possibly 25 would amply cover the number in 1931. It is estimated by the trade that there are now about 1300 headers in operation. The cost of these machines has ranged about £6OO, so hex - e is an item involving £900,000 which in 1931 scarcely existed. Every other implement on the farm has increased in price since the war started by 30 to 50 per cent—some more—so that if the estimate of £2.250,000 in 1931 was soundly based the figure to-day would probably exceed £6,000,000. This figure has to be viewed in the light of the reduced manual labour employed. It is scarcely necessary to explain, however, that this huge capital invested in mixed farm machinery is not for wheat production alone. Tillage for all classes of crops and the harvesting of the same might provide possibly as much employment-for this machinery as does wheat, although the preparation of the soil for the 300.000 acres required to meet the country’s normal wheat requirements and the threshing of the same would probably tip the balance that way. In the absence of statistical data estimates of this nature cannot be claimed as anything better than an approximation. They are nevertheless sufficiently near the mark to indicate the economic loss if, through the further decline of wheatgrowing, tractors and ploughs and drills and headers were only part time employed. It is Safe to say that but for the wheat industry hot half of the machinery would be on farms to-day. Headers probably owe 75 per cent, of their incidence to the wheat aspect. The value of a sufficient crop for the annual wheat needs of the Dominion is more than £3,000,000, ail but a small proportion the production of the South Island. Notwithstanding the circumstances that make wheatgrowing so unpopular to-day it would be doubtful policy to see such a revenue slip away, or even substantially decline, while the machinery for handling it was left in the shed.

The linea flax factory at Seddon (Marlborough) has been closed down because of the insufficiency of flax grown in the district to keep it in operation.

According, to the latest killing returns for export—to May 13—the average weight of lambs for the Dominion is 33.591b, against 33.571b last season to the corresponding date. The South Inland average is 34.721b, compared with 34.801b. South Island wethers averaged 49.651b. against 48.951b, and ewes 52.011b, against 52.031b.

The Australian Federal Minister of Commerce has rejected a request from potato growers for a guaranteed price for potatoes above the contract price of £l4 a ton. In refusing the request, the Minister said he confidently anticipated that a maximum price of £lB a ton would obtain during the first week in ' October. . The secretary of the Potato Growers’ Association replied that growers were not interested in promises. They wanted a guarantee for the early crop, which would be so urgently needed next spring. The secretary of the Primary Producers’ Union said that the Government apparently appreciated the risk from blight, frost, and rot in growing potatoes for the early spring by being preoared to pay an extra £4 for early October delivery, but he was not prepared to take the additional risk of producing the crop and leaving it to the Australian Potato Committee to decide the price at harvesting time. •