WHEAT INQUIRY Greater Production In North Island Proposed

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29798, 14 April 1962, Page 8

WHEAT INQUIRY Greater Production In North Island Proposed

The Wheat Committee has recommended encouragement of more wheat production in the North Island and an investigation aimed at reducing freight and handling costs in the transport of agricultural products from the South to the North Island.

These were two of its 11 recommendations to the Committee of Inquiry into the Wheat, Flour and Bread Industries sitting in Christchurch yesterday.

The Wheat Committee said in its submissions that of the estimated 188,000 acres of wheat for all purposes in the 1961-62 season, 8000 acres were in the North Island, which was now supplied almost entirely by Australian wheat.

These submissions, put to the inquiry by the committee's counsel (Mr L. J. H. Hensley), will be supplemented later in the hearings. They also recommend the encouragement of millers in increasing their storage capacity for wheat and of farmers in providing farm »;orage.

"Should it remain the policy of’ the Government to

grow a great proportion of our requirements of wheat in New Zealand, consideration should be given to the encouragement of more wheat production in the North Island,” said the recommendation.

After a low ebb in wheat production in 1956, when 2.65 million bushels were produced from 68,300 acres, there had been an upward swing to an estimated 183,000 acres for harvest this year, with a crop expectation of eight to nine million bushels. This resulted from* an increase of 2s a bushel to 13s 6d a bushel paid to South Island growers since 1959. from higher wheat yields, and from a change in outlook for other farm products.

New Zealand requirements had risen from a maximum 9,500,000 bushels a year before World War H to an estimated 15.850,000 bushels currently. The requirements of imported Australian wheat would be 6 to 7 million bushels, said the committee’s statement.

Wheat production in New Zealand saved overseas exchange—6.Bso,ooo bushels imported at present cost £3,967.292—and increased the margin of safety in supplies, it said. In 15 of the 26 years of the committee’s operations, imported wheat cost on average more than the basic price to New Zealand growers; and the imported price had been rising steadily over the last 10 years SJ. Self-Sufficient South Island wheat was harvested normally withirr a few weeks and it was obvious that, with increasing production, all the wheat could not be transported and

stared as harvested. The performance of the South Island millers and the transport system had been impressive, said the committee. But with the South Island now more than self-sufficient in wheat and with increased production likely, more wheat would have to be held on the farms for post-harvest delivery to the North Island, where storage was limited. Storage there was geared to regular Australian shipments.

The committee recommended a storage allowance to millers for a fixed period, say three years, to encourage them to increase and use their storage capacity. It recommended the continuation of a storage allowance to growers for farm storage for. that part of the crop which cannot be moved at harvest time.

The submission approved the development of wheat drying by artificial means in areas where excessive moisture at harvest could hinder the commercial acceptance of the grain. The drying capacity in Southland and South Otago could now deal with 20 per cent, of the crops, it said.