Prospects For Harvest

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 10

Prospects For Harvest

A good cereal and small seeds harvest is in prospect in Canter* bury this season.

Until early this week, the wheat crop in some areas was expected to be exceptional, and even with the hot, drying conditions which set in on Tuesday, yields are still expected to be good. From Marlborough, cash crops are reported to be looking “fairly good," but rain is needed to fill them out

Mid-Canterbury has had an extremly favourable season. The superintendent of the Department of Agriculture at Ashburton (Mr C. P. Whatman) said this week the wheat acreage was up on last year No exact figures had been taken out but it was expected to be about 15 per cent greater.

There had been no outbreaks of pests, very little aphis, but some mildew in heavy crops.

Mr Whatman said the crops were looking extremely well, but with the onset of high temperatures the moisture was disappearing rapidly. Crops had become definitely short of moisture, and this could have some depressing effect on yields. But there would still be a good yield. A considerable acreage of oats has been grown in MidCanterbury this season, many of them on contract. Mr Whatman described the crops as very good.

Barley prospects. like wheat, are very promising, but Mr Whatman says the moisture shortage may be a little more serious, particularly on late-sown crops, which are still flowering. "The barley could be pinched unless we get quite substantial rains within the next two or three weeks," he said. Mr Whatman said the partridge pea crops were remarkable. They had made an amazing recovery from disease earlier in the season.

They were flowering well, and setting a lot of pods, but here again, the dry conditions were expected to put them back a little. With abundant November growth there are many good crops of ryegrass, and with the hot weather they are quickly approaching the harvesting stage. “A week ago it didn't look as though much ryegrass would be cut before the New Year; now crops will be cut before Christmas,” Mr Whatman said. “It is actually coming in too quickly. Still, there will be a lot to harvest." The chances of poor germination through blind seed are reported to be very slight. The weather has been good, the ground surface dry, so that fungus will not be producing spores and infecting crops.

White clover crops were described by Mr Whatman as very mixed. Some were very good, he said, and others very poor. “There will be a good deal of seed, but a lot of dirty samples," he said. There is also a lot of suckling clover in some crops. A big increase is expected in the total acreage to be harvested. South Canterbury is experiencing a good season, but like Mid-Canterbury, needs some rain if hopes for high yields are to be realised. The chief advisory officer for the Department of Agriculture at Timaru (Mr R. C. Schofield) described prospects for cash crops as very good. Speaking of the area east of the main railway line between the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers, Mr P. R. Barrer, a farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch, said that on the lighter land farmers were having an opportunity this season to build up hay supplies for about the first time since 1959. There were some heavy ryegrass crops, he said, but overall they would not be

much over average, although a bigger area was being saved this season. A number of white clover crops had had to be topped after treatment with paraquat and this had made them somewhat later than usual but they were now looking a picture on the heavier land. The dry weather might tend to shorten crops on the medium and medium to lighter land and make harvesting more difficult

Wheat was very promising but for these crops another rain was needed before harvest. Barley and peas were also coming on well but needed a little more rain.

West of the railway line Mr R. G. Jolly, a farm advisory officer of the department in Christchurch, said that both ryegrass and white clover crops were generally good. It now depended on how long the dry spell continued as to whether white clover would be harvested on the lighter land, but prospects were good on the medium and heavier land. While crops had been later this season flowering had increased in the last two weeks and yields should be good. Wheat and barley were looking well. There was some mildew about but so far its effects had not been serious. With some rain in the next week or so these crops would finish off well, otherwise grain might tend to be a little pinched. Hay making was in full swing and with yields of luceme and meadow hay above average most people should have ample to meet their requirements and make up for last season’s backlog. People who made a practice of buying hay might well do so now. In the higher country Mr Jolly said that feed supplies were now good but rain was needed to carry these areas along. Prospects there for hay were better than usual. - There has been insect damage in brassica crops—mainly from springtails. Army worm has also shown up in ryegrass being saved for seed at Motukarara, and grass grub has been reported thinning out a spring-sown lucerne stand.

November was quite a good month in Marlborough, and useful rains helped to bring the crops forward. But the senior farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture at Blenheim (Mr Percy Beggs) said it was getting very dry in parts, and rain was needed to “finish" off the crops. Some spraying has been done for aphides, but it has not been a bad season for yellow dwarf virus.

Conditions are rather dry for the pea crops, but around Blenheim the yields are expected to be good. Ryegrass crops have come in very early, particularly in

drier districts, according to Mr Beggs. Some crops in the Seddon district were already cut early this week, and were expected to be harvested in the following few days. The Department of Agriculture estimates the acreage of small seeds will be about the same as last, year, but that less seed will be saved. In contrast with Canterbury, where farmers are rapidly filling their barns, hay is likely to be in short supply in parts of Marlborough. Rains in November improved the position, enabling good crops to be cut around Blenheim and north of Blenheim, but hay is short in the Seddon district. The November rain-boosted lucerne stands, and cuts were obtained, but generally on the lighter country the rains came too late, according to Mr Beggs.