Recommendations From Wheat Inquiry

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30367, 17 February 1964, Page 12

Recommendations From Wheat Inquiry

(New Zealand Pres* Association) WELLINGTON, February 16. The subsidy on flour should be abolished, wheat should be grown on contract, and the Wheat Committee should be replaced by a Wheat Authority which would be responsible for the purchase of all wheat offered in a marketable condition. These are among the principal recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry into the Wheat, Flour, and Bread Industries.

The report was released today by the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Marshall) to whom the committee presented it on October 9 last year. The committee also recommends an examination of retail margins on bread to determine whether any increase should be provided, and the wrapping of all bread before sale. Other recommendations include the abolition of the levies on wheat, flour, bran and pollard paid to the wheatgrowers’ compensation fund and for farmers’ storage of wheat, and to United Wheatgrowers (N.Z.) Ltd., the New Zealand Federation of Bakers and Pastrycooks, and the Egg Marketing Authority. It is suggested that the bran and pollard levy be replaced if deemed necessary by a subsidy administered by the Department of Agriculture.

The committee recommends that the Government should accept not merely self-suffi-ciency in wheat production, but also the achieving of an exportable surplus, as a policy objective. It should make every endeavour to increase annual acreage to 400,000, raising this figure as land use and its development improve through the application of scientific methods. Other recommendations on wheatgrowing are:— The Department of Agriculture should survey potential wheatgrowing districts of the North Island to determine their area and what measures would be required to encourage wheatgrowing. Research work should be commenced immediately on special wheats for those areas of the South and North Islands where special characteristics are required for successful cropping. Wheat should be grown on contract A Wheat Authority to replace the Wheat Committee should be established, the authority to be responsible for the purchase of all wheat that in its opinion is offered in a marketable condition. Pricing Problems Wheatgrowing should be placed in a position where it is fully competitive with other crops and with meat and wool, not only in return an acre but also in disposal. As an incentive to wheatgrowing a system of advance payments should be introduced for wheat grown on contract.

The present basis of purchase, namely, milling-stand-ard wheat, should be replaced by a defined standard in the contract which has no relationship to milling or baking quality. The basis of purchase under the contract, for wheat in a marketable condition, should be by means of premiums for variety and by premiums and deductions above or below the price set for the defined standard based on (a) bushel weight, (b) moisture content, (c) weed seeds, broken, sprouted, and shrivelled grain, straw, chaff, or other extraneous matter.

Premiums above the standard variety should be on a

district basis and related to the average baking score determined by the Wheat Research Institute.

The minimum price payable for wheat of the defined standard set by the authority should be fixed for three seasons ahead. The basic price of wheat should be fixed by the Government on the recommendation of the Wheat Authority. New Zealand wheat sold to the authority, both for milling and feed purposes, should be offered through brokers. Quality, Grading The import of premium wheat or flour is unnecessary. The Wheat Authority should specify the quantity of each variety of wheat required in each area for which it is prepared to accept contracts. For this purpose recognised brokers should be appointed to obtain contracts. In fixing the quantities of each variety it will accept the authority might consult millers and bakers.

Encouragement be given to the growing of special wheats suitable for high-ratio and other special flours. All wheat purchased by the authority should be first offered by it to millers. The present extraction rate of flour should remain unchanged, but consideration should be given to extending the list of permitted additives in bread baking. Storage Farm storage should be paid for fully by the Wheat Authority without subsidy from the growers. The Wheat Authority should assume responsibility for storage or arranging storage of wheat in marketable state. Investigations into the practicability of transport of flour in bulk should be continued. Multiwalled paper bags should be used in place of jute sacks for the carriage of flour. Feed Wheat The prices fixed for feed wheat sold by the authority should be amounts which take into account transport, storage, and administration

costs, as well as the cost of purchase of both New Zealand and Australian wheat imported for feed. Sales should be through brokers and other distributors as at present. Flonrmilling A measure of flexibility should be introduced into the quota system along the lines indicated. The present flour quota of the Wheat Committee should be retained for use by the authority. The price of flour ex mill should be fixed by the normal procedure to which should be added an amount to cover transport, storage and administration costs of the Wheat Authority to arrive at the price to be paid by bakers and others. Surplus South Island wheat transported to the North Island should first be used to displace imported wheat used for feed. Storage allowances to millers should continue. By-products The distribution of bran and pollard, both imported and domestic, should be clearly vested in the Wheat Authority. A more flexible pricing policy should be permitted for these products to enable the authority to have regard to the price of competing foodstuffs and to avoid the build-up of surpluses at mills. Bread Baking Retail margins on bread should be examined to determine whether any increase should be provided. Methods of storage of bread delivered outside shops should be examined with a view to devising and encouraging the use of an approved container.

All bread should be wrapped before sale to the consumer.

The Board of Trade (Re-

turn of Bread) Regulations, 1941 should be revoked, but while any subsidy remains it may be considered desirable to retain the regulations, in which event they should be enforced. Levies The levies relating to the following should be abolished: wheatgrowers’ compensation fund, farmers’ storage of wheat, United Wheatgrowers (N.Z.), Ltd., New Zealand Federation of Bakers and Pastrycooks, bran and pollard. The bran and pollard levy should be replaced if deemed necessary by a subsidy administered by the Department of Agriculture. Wheat Authority The Wheat Authority should be established by Act of Parliament and giving the following objects:— (a) To encourage wheatgrowing in New Zealand to the maximum possible extent. (b) To ensure that the varieties of wheat grown in each district in New Zealand are those which, having regard to the soil and climate of that district, will produce the most satisfactory wheat for the purposes for which it is to be used. (Since flour is chiefly used for breadmaking, this should be the primary consideration, but because there is an increas-

ing demand for flour having particular characteristics, this aspect should not be overlooked. (c) To ensure that adequate supplies of wheat are available for all purposes throughout New Zealand at all times. (d) To ensure that adequate supplies of flour other than specialty flours are available for all purposes throughout New Zealand at all times. (e) To ensure that adequate supplies of bran and pollard are available throughout New Zealand at all times. To carry out these objects the authority should be: (a) The sole purchaser of wheat of marketable quality grown in or imported into New Zealand other than wheat for seed or experimental purposes. (b) The sole supplier of wheat of marketable quality except that required for seed or experimental use. (c) The sole exporter of wheat.

(d) The sole purchaser of supplies of flour produced in New Zealand, other than flour manufactured from wheat having special characteristics and approved by the authority on the recommendation of the Wheat Research Institute.

(e) The sole purchaser and supplier of bran and pollard produced in or imported into New Zealand.

Membership of the authority should be by direct appointment by the Minister and should consist of nine members, one of whom should be fully conversant with the wheatgrowing industry, another with the milling industry, another with the baking industry, another with the poultry-producing industry, another with grain brokers’ business, another as representative of the Department of Industries and Commerce, another a representative of the Treasury, and two others not having any direct association with any of the above, and one of these two to be appointed chairman by the Minister. Appointments to the authority should be for three years and arranged so that members retire in rotation. A member at the end of this term may be eligible for reappointment.