GRAIN, SEEDS, PRODUCE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28920, 13 June 1959, Page 7

GRAIN, SEEDS, PRODUCE

Better Prospect For Wheat Solving

If the present mild weather continues for a week to 10 days the time lost in wheat sowings in Canterbury should be caught up, except for areas on the heavier class of land where there is no possibility of reworking and sowing before the spring. In the last week the seed wheat which was held in farmers’ sheds has gone into the ground, and orders from merchants’ stores have been steadily moving out. From the reports merchants have received from their country agents it appears that losses from waterlogging already sown ground will be much less than expected, and only on very heavy land where the water lay for several days have entire paddocks been lost. A fair number of partial losses in dips and hollows will necessitate some resowing. On the heavy.soils where it is still too wet to work, the prospects for spring sowings are fairly good and merchants said that with the new varieties of wheat the yield and present price basis for wheat would still give a satisfactory return.

The potato market is firm with a healthy tone, merchants report. While shipments to the North Island are slightly behind last year’s figures, stocks are moving in good volume. Digging has increased in the last week as the ground has dried out, and although a lot of dirt is being carried on the potatoes some of the leeway in digging is being caught up. Scab is being reported in crops from some areas and some second growth is also noticeable.

The Potato Board’s end-of-May survey has not been completed as several returns have not yet come to hand. Approximate values to growers being paid are £23 a ton for Suttons, £l9 for Ham Hardy, £2O 10s for Chippewa, £2O for Sebago, and £lB or Arran Banner.

North Island merchants have said that this year’s shipments are arriving in very good order and better than ever before. During and since last season, strenuous efforts have been made by all parties concerned to improve handling methods and the improvement shown will benefit growers and merchants alike. The small seeds market is still in the doldrums but quotations are reported to be firm. A few inquiries have been received but actual trading is at a minimum. Most merchants feel that with good weather in the Northern Hemisphere and harvests there about two months or less away, overseas buyers are holding off until prospects for northern crops are better known.

No quotations of prices for small seeds to the grower were available this week from the Canterbury Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants’ Federation.