More Need For Storage On Farms

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31215, 12 November 1966, Page 9

More Need For Storage On Farms

A bigger acreage in wheat and changes in the Food and Hygiene Regulations affecting storage at flour mills will make storage on farms more necessary this coming harvest than ever. This was the view put forward by the New Zealand Flour Millers’ Society at a meeting in Christchurch called recently by the society to discuss the next wheat harvest.

The meeting was attended by New Zealand-wide representatives from Federated Farmers, United Wheat Growers, the New Zealand Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants’ Federation, Railways Department, the New Zealand Wheat Board and the Wheat Research Institute.

It was reported that the South Island last year produced about 1.5 m bushels of wheat over and above South Island milling and feed requirements and, with the increased acreage for the coming harvest, the surplus this year could be considerably more. The meeting felt that more farmers would have to take care of their wheat this coming year than in previous seasons. Flour mills would not be able to take the harvest in at any greater rate than they had done in past years, the millers said, and, owing to certain proposed

changes in the Food and Hygiene regulations covering the storage of wheat at mills, they felt it could be that the amount stored at mills would be considerably reduced. The present indications were: (1) That mills would not be permitted to store wheat in outside stacks. (2) Only under certain conditions would mills be allowed to hold wheat in stores which were not totally enclosed. Other restrictions applying to mill storage within totally enclosed stores were likely to reduce the quantity placed in those stores considerably so that, overall, the amount which would be taken by mills early in the harvest might be very much curtailed. It was reported that bulk facilities for wheat shipments from Bluff would be available for the coming

harvest and it was stated that representations had been made to the Timaru Harbour Board for bulk facilities to be provided at Timaru. The farmer representatives stressed the need for farmers who were changing to bulk handling of wheat to provide the necessary bulk storage. Only limited quantities of bulk wheat were likely to be accepted for immediate delivery at harvest, the meeting felt, and much of the wheat for shipment north via Timaru and Bluff would have a lengthy wait The availability of railway waggons during harvest was discussed and the department’s representatives emphasised that, just as in any other business, it was not possible to have facilities to service immediately all peak requirements. In the areas where improvements could be effected in the ordering of railway waggons and the smoothing out of the delivery to mills, meetings would be held between departmental representatives and representatives of the mills to plan the necessary organisation. Mr R. W. Cawley, director of the Wheat Research Institute, stated that the system of testing samples used last year would again be used for the coming harvest.