CEREAL HARVEST IN EARLY STAGES

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29715, 8 January 1962, Page 13

CEREAL HARVEST IN EARLY STAGES

The harvesting of cereal crops is just beginning in earnest in the province. The general manager of the Wheat Committee (Mr L. C. Dunshea) said at the weekend that a number of crops had been harvested and North Canterbury country mills, some of the town mills, and Ashburton mills had received some of the first wheat.

No wheat had yet been baked to assess its quality, but on the basis of the early crops so far handled it seemed that quality should be quite good. As expected, In some cases yields were a little lower than usual, he said.

Mr Dunshea indicated that from now on there should be » stepping up in the tempo of the wheat harvest. Up to the week-end the Wheat Research Institute in Christchurch had not received any samples of wheat from mills for test baking, but some wheat had been received for moisture testing. Some of these samples were of very attractive appearance, being of particularly gxxl colour. Among the most attractive was wheat from Mid-Canterbury and Darfield. One of the first lines to be received into one Canterburymill had to be rejected because of excessive moisture content. It ranged from 16 to 21 per cent, in moisture. An Ashburton miller said on the bases of two samples seen that it looked as if the bushel weight of wheat might be heavier this year. In the case of the two samples the bushel weight was 61 and 621 b. Oat Harvest

An oat miller said at the week-end that it was hard to forecast what the crop would be like because there was a great deal of variation. He said that some of the early lines seen were not very’ attractive. Some lines of South Canterbury origin were thin and miserable. A line from the Leeston district contained green oats because of seasonal conditions. Considerable hope was being put on the delivery of some good crops from the Ellesmere district.

An Ashburton miller, who has received two lines of oats, said that they were of reasonable quality. The lines had weighed 41 and 421 b to the bushel which was good milling weight. Yields, however, appeared to be well down. One crop had yielded 28 bushels to the acre. This man said it seemed that the oats would not be as plump as last year. A handful of lines of early barley for malting have been received m Christchurch from areas including the Blenheim and Dunsandel districts, but the harvest has barely started yet. About half of the lines so far received are described as quite good and half as very poor. However, the general expectation is that the crops will probably be reasonably well filled. Because of the unsettled weather at sowing time it is expected that the crops will be later than last year in coming to hand and that their delivery may be spread out. The average yield is also expected to be down a little.