Premiums For Wheat

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30066, 26 February 1963, Page 12

Premiums For Wheat

Had the last wheat season not been so unfavourable, the Cabinet might have been less ready to continue the 2s subsidy on each bushel of Hilgendorf wheat However, for this year at least some incentive payment would probably have been offered to encourage the wider growing of this high-quality baking wheat A major difficulty for the New Zealand wheat industry has always been the maintenance of quality as well as quantity of output Whether in Hilgendorf (1961) the industry has found a permanent answer to this problem has yet to appear. The new variety suffered badly from stem rust in Marlborough, and a few crops were not worth harvesting. This year has been unfortunate generally for the revived wheat industry; and fresh efforts may be necessary to keep farmers’ interest in wheatgrowing in the light of-in-creased returns from other

activities, notably wool production.

Indications are that farmers will take up all the Hilgendorf (1961) seed available for sowing this year. There may also be an increased demand for the Arawa variety, which has not a high baking quality but which has yielded relatively better in adverse conditions. While the combination of factors that resulted in the poor 1963 harvest is unlikely to recur immediately, farmers must be uncertain of the prospects for future harvests. It would be tragic for an industry which recovered so magnificently from the substantial reverses of the immediate post-war years to be allowed again to languish. Wheat is still an attractive cash crop, and its cultivation means the saving of valuable overseas exchange. For these reasons the Government will be wise to adopt every reasonable expedient to maintain the industry on a sound footing.