Wheat Boom In South

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31588, 27 January 1968, Page 9

Wheat Boom In South

Even before the slump in crossbred wool prices directed farmers’ attention to wheat growing, an increasing area of this crop was being grown in Southland, even though wheat growing under the southern climate is not the easiest and safest operation.

Expensive drying equipment is almost essential in this area, but in association with use of modern header harvesters and bulk handling of grain it has reduced the risk as far as is possible.

This year the area in wheat in Southland is likely to be a little more than 50,000 acres according to the fields superintendent of the Department of Agriculture, in Invercargill, Mr A. R. Rankin. This represents an increase of some 20,000 to 22,000 acres on the 1966-67 crop. At the middle of the month Mr Rankin said that crops were looking particularly well and as good as they have looked for several years. In some areas—in eastern Southland for instance —it is believed that the increase in acreage this year is about 100 per cent The change that has taken place in the wheat-growing scene in the province is underlined by Mr R.. H. McKenzie, of Merino Downs near Gore, a director of United Wheatgrowers’ (N.Z.) Ltd. Eighteen years ago, he believes that he was the only member of the provincial executive of Federated Farmers growing wheat. Today, he says, three-quarters of the executive would be in the wheat game. A number of factors have contributed to the interest in wheat in Southland, according to Mr McKenzie. Among these are the increases in the price from $1.15 to $1.35 and then $1.45 a bushel, reaction to official policy seeking an increase in the wheat area and self-sufficiency in wheat, a greater recognition that wheat can be fitted into a farming rotation so that pastures benefit and stock health is improved, and the introduction of drying equipment, bulk storage facilities and big harvesters to help overcome the obstacles provided by the climate. On the property of Mr McKenzie and his brother, wheat

has been grown for many years as part of the farming system. Today about 100 acres a year is broken up out of grass and after being put through a crop of swedes, about half of the area goes into wheat. About 30 to 40 acres are grown a year. Threequarters of this is Hilgendorf and the balance Cross 7-61. The McKenzies do not have a drier of their own. Their crop is harvested in bulk and then bagged from a bin which sits on the tray of their truck. It is stacked one high in the farm granary and if necessary, when it is sold it is dried before delivery. Last year -the McKenzie wheat was among Southland wheat shipped to the North Island. It was dried in Gore on the way to Bluff for shipping. Mr McKenzie says that they can head wheat at 18 per cent moisture and then hold it satisfactorily on the farm. In days gone by Mr McKenzie recalls, wheats like Velvet, solid-straw Tuscan, Marquis, Jumbuck, and 90-day wheat being grown on the property as well as the more modern varieties such as Cross 7, Aotea and Hilgendorf. A few miles away, at Waikaka Valley, Mr G. R. Reid has spent something like $30,000 in assembling equipment for wheat handling. On his property he has 60 acres in wheat—all Aotea—but he is also in the contracting business. When the Waikaka branch railway line closed, he took over the Willowbank goods shed and fitted it for drying and storing wheat. This will be the third season it has been used. Mr Reid has had an English continuous-type grain dryer in the shed which is able to handle about 30 cwt an hour. This month he was awaiting delivery of another and bigger English dryer which will handle about six to six and a half tons an hour and take 5 per cent moisture out of it. This piece of equipment, with a moisture tester, which will set the amount of moisture that the machine extracts, will cost about SIO,OOO.

In the goods shed, now extended, Mr Reid has 13 bins to hold about 500 tons of grain. These are lined with corrugated Iron and have concrete floors. Two which each hold 35 tons of grain have sloping floors so that they are selfemptying. In the others a little shoveling is required to complete the emptying. An electrically operated six-inch auger can be pushed in a channel under each of these bins to draw out the wheat and a system of conveyers and augers takes the grain from the dryer and dresser, which will also be used this season, to the bins for storage. Mr Reid also plans to have two 120-ton silos, of the design of a Timaru firm, erected at McNab, a few miles away. This is close to the railway and grain will be transferred to the silos from the bins at Willowbank.

In a pit and in a bin Mr Reid will be able to hold 65 tons of wet grain in the Willowbank shed awaiting drying. Last year he bandied about 2000 tons of wheat. This year he expects that it may be as much as 5000 tons. Amongst others in Southland, Mr Reid is interested in the proposition of buying standing wheat, harvesting it, and then handling it through bis dryer and storage facilities. He has just bought a new SBOOO header harvester with a 12ft cut which will put out the equivalent of some 300 sacks of wheat an hour. For handling wheat near the drying shed he uses two hydraulic tip trailers, holding about four tons each, one of which is his own, but he de-

pends on transport vehicles to carry wheat in from further afield. The existence of people who will buy standing wheat is a boon to new growers with relatively small acreages and without equipment to handle wheat, particularly under the local climate. Prices like $1.05 or sl.lO a bushel have been mentioned as the sort of figure that purchasers will pay, this of course being subject to the wheat being of milling standard. Payments may be spread so that the grower receives perhaps half the price within a month of harvest, and then the balance when the wheat is sold by the purchaser. This system means that the grower does not have to worry about waiting for a contractor when the crop seems about ready and having the risks of the crop being flooded out or of the grain sprouting. As Mr McKenzie says, the weather remains the greatest obstacle to wheat growing in Southland. But the use of drying equipment has considerably reduced the risk. A little wheat is sown in the autumn on the more shingly and better drained soils, but most is spring-sown. In the drier areas the sowing is done about the end of August or beginning of September, and in other areas in October after lambing. Mr McKenzie says that it is prudent not to sow while the ground is still wet and sowings are known to have been made as late as November 29. In contrast to Canterbury, Mr McKenzie says, it is necessary to sow up to three bushels to the acre if a good yield is required. The wheat does not seem to stool out under local conditions. The crops are all harvested within about a month —from midMarch to April. Farmers having their own machines can avoid sprouting and proceed with harvesting when crops are ripe by getting on the job when the opportunity offers, but a lot of contract harvesting is still done and with their big machines the contractors can work over big areas in a short time. For people like Mr McKenzie who do not have their own drying equipment there is plenty of drying equipment about if they want their grain dried.

According to Mr McKenzie, about two thirds of the crop in Southland would probably be Aotea—popular because of the good yields that it has given in some areas. A yield of 125 bushels to the acre has been recorded in the province. This grower sowed li bushels of seed to the acre one way and then cross-drilled in another 1| bushels. Mr McKenzie, however, says that Aotea is too prone to

sprouting. He believes that it has a sort of fur that

> seems to hold the moisture. •He sticks to Hilgendorf which does not sprout so . much, but he says that many t do not- like it because it is' i hard to thresh. The new! I Cross 7, Cross 7-61, he says, > is actually more prone to i sprouting than the old variety. : In the last few seasons i there has been relatively E little sprouting in Southland ,as the weather has been > relatively favourable for har- ! vesting, and for the extra : effort and expense that they • have to put into wheat grow- ! ing Mr McKenzie says that , they get the return in higher i yields. Unless crops go 50 to ■ 60 bushels to the acre, they are regarded as “duds.” Mr , Rankin said that the average , yield would be about 60 . bushels. > But while yields are good, > Mr McKenzie believes that-if ; New Zealand is to be selfi sufficient in wheat then there is a good case for a wheat . being bred for Southland con- ■ ditions. , Recalling that 90-day wheat - had been grown on their ; property about 1937, he said it would be a boon in the ' province to have such a wheat , that would give a yield like Aotea. When they grew it the yield was about 33 bushels to ; the acre. ; Mr Rankin says that there is a potential for 90,000 acres of wheat in Southland, but it , seems unlikely that the area in the crop will increase much ’ beyond the present level in the near future. In fact, at best it is considered that the acreage will be no bigger next season. Those who have invested heavily in preparing for - wheat growing will no doubt ! be tied to continuing growing. But if the wheat price is ■ reduced (as it has) and wool shows some recovery, on top of the present attractive rates for lamb, ■ then some falling off in the area could be expected. In i addition, farmers may be less ; enthusiastic about wheat if ; they have to wait a long time . for payment for their produce > this year. It is thought that : some of this season’s SouthI land crop may not be dis- ; posed of until next January. i And while the crop has been looking most promising lately, it has also been about - the flowering stage and even i at this stage of the year the ; possibility of a yield-reducing : frost cannot be ruled out.