GRAIN, SEED PRODUCE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28618, 21 June 1958, Page 16

GRAIN, SEED PRODUCE

Wheat Storage Experiment Storage of wheat on the farm is a problem which may face many farmers in the light of increased national acreage next season, especially those with crops of Arawa. Although the Wheat Committee has guaranteed that all wheat grown in New Zealand will be absorbed, the warning has been given that there may be delays in the accepting of the harvest by the mills. An experiment being conducted at present in Christchurch of storing bagged wheat in stacks of about 200 is being watched with interest by the Wheat Committee, United Wheatgrowers, Ltd., the Wheat Research Institute and the Department of Agriculture. The stack under trial is set on a groundsheet and covered with a sheet, both of plastic. Ventilation is provided by the exposed sides of the stack. The cost of storing wheat in this manner appears at first sight to be not unreasonable. Apart from labour, the plastic materials retail at not much more than £lO. Vermin may prove to be a hazard although there are at present several very good repellents suited to this use. The method has been used with great success for the storage of superphosphate in bulk at airstrips. Wheat storage in the open has been used successfully in the past and, in the opinion of one merchant, the outcome of the experiment is one that will bear close watching; If the farmer can store his harvested crop in or near the paddock by this or some similar method the almost certain problem of the transport bottleneck may be partly alleviated. Potato Market Quiet

Potato shipments to the North Island in the fortnight ended June 6 showed a slight decline compared with the previous period and the market is at present moderately quiet. Most of the shipping is made up of forward orders, merchants said, with a definite decline in those for Wellington. Merchants there are still receiving supplies on consignment from Hawke’s Bay. With the Potato Board’s survey approaching completion, some indication may be available soon as to the season’s yield and the amount of stocks held on the farm.

Small seeds have shown a slight easing in the last week, due mainly to the lack of overseas interest and the very small amount of stock actually changing hands. Until harvests in the Northern Hemisphere begin, there is likely to be little change, however. It has been a poor season for lucerne crops due mainly to unfavourable weather and reduced quantities of seed have been coming forward. Lines of seed have not been of particularly high quality with a fair amount of greening in the sample. White clover crops, too, have been lower than usual and the price has shown a slight fluctuation, mainly speculative. Prices to Growers The following prices to growers were quoted yesterday by the Canterbury Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants* Association:— Ryegrass.—Northern perennial. 18s per bushel; p.p., 17s 6d; uncertified. Us; H.l mother, 18s; standard. 47s 6d. White Clover.—Mother 99/90, 2s lOd per lb; p.p.. 2s 9d; mother, 98/90, 2s 9a per lb; p.p.. 2s Bd. Cowgrass.—Certified. 2s per lb; uncertified, Is 9d. Browntop (nominal).—Certified. 2s 3d per lb; uncertified, 2s. Montgomery Red Clover.—Certified, 4s 9d per lb; uncertified. 2s 6d. Lucerne (Marlborough strain). — Uncertified, 4s 3d per lb. • The president of the association, Mr F. F. Reading, In announcing these prices, said they were those which could be justified by the basic market situation for each variety of seed. They did not take into account day to day fluctuations of a speculative nature.