LARGER AREA IN BARLEY THIS YEAR

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 12

LARGER AREA IN BARLEY THIS YEAR

The Government Statistician (Mr J. V. T. Baker) is forecasting bigger barley and maize crops in New Zealand this year. The area in barley this year is estimated at 114,600 acres, an increase of 16 per cent

over the provisional acreage for last season. The maize crop is estimated at 12,350 acres, an increase of 4 per cent on last season. Mr Baker says that 59 per cent of the New Zealand barley crop has been sown in the Canterbury statistical district and 15 per cent in the Wellington district. It is expected that 99,000 acres will be threshed, giving a possible yield of 5.6 m bushels. In Canterbury it is estimated that 35,900 acres are being grown in North Canterbury, 18,100 acres in MidCanterbury, and 13,900 acres in South Canterbury. The estimated acreage for Marlborough, Nelson and Westland is 7300 acres. Of the area in maize it is expected that 7700 acres will be threshed, yielding possibly 732,000 bushels. The area in maize in the South Island is relatively small and only 1550 acres is estimated for Taranaki, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson and Canterbury. For the purposes of these statistics, Mr Baker said that a survey had been made of all farmers who had grown these crops in the previous season. Those who might have grown these crops for the first time had not been taken into account.