Reservations over new wheat price

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33533, 14 May 1974, Page 1

Reservations over new wheat price

The Government has decided to raise the price to be paid for milling wheat harvested next year by 20c a bushel.

This is on top of a 67.5 c rise announced in January, and means that next season’s price will be 53 to 54 per cent higher than that paid in the most recent harvest.

The initial reaction of : growers’ representatives to the new price was reasonably favourable, but there were some reservations • about it, and the announcement might be too late to influence some farmers in their decision making. It is understood that growers’ representatives have recently been urging a 20 per cent increase in the price announced in January, to about $2.76. The Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr Freer) said yesterday that a basic price of $2.20 a bushel would be paid, together with a special incentive payment of 30c a bushel. NEXT YEAR The Government has not, however, agreed to any increase in the price paid foi wheat harvested this year. Mr Freer said it had been decided that an increase in the 1975 price would be more appropriate. Unfavourable weather had made the most recent season a very difficult one for wheatgrowers, he said. And there were indications that because of the reduced! profitability of wheatgrowing in comparison with other crops the acreage likely to be sown for harvesting next

year would not be anything like that required to meet the country’s needs in milling standard wheat. But it could be expected that at $2.20 per bushel, plus the incentive payment of 30c, the wheat price would, at that time, compare much more favourably with other prices than at present. It would also provide encouragement for a reasonable balance between production of wheat and alternative products and would go a substantial way toward self-sufficiency in domestic wheat production. ■ “REALISTIC” PRICE The chairman of the wheatgrowers’ sub-section of Federated Farmers (Mr J. H. Mitchell, of Oamaru) described the increased price as a realistic one, particularly in view of declining grain prices overseas. “I believe that it will encourage more farmers on suitable land to plant an increased acreage in wheat,” he said. “The revised price takes into account some of the rapidly increasing costs related to grain growing. “Wheatgrowers can now weigh up the newly announced price against the extra fuel, transport and ma-

chinery costs and the prices that may be received from alternative farming enterprises.” •PART OF WAY” Mr A. L. Mulholland, the senior vice-chairman of the Dominion agriculture section of Federated Farmers, said he was ‘‘a wee bit disappointed.” But it had to be acknowledged that the Government had made a move and amended an earlier decision. The Government had gone part of the way toward meeting growers’ representa- . tives who had been asking . for about $2.75, or a2O per 1 cent increase on the price ] announced earlier, to take : account of the estimated inflation in the next year. The increased price would , attract some more acres to ; wheat growing, but the critical question was whether it would achieve self-suffi-ciency. He was certain that ' it would not. RESERVATIONS While welcoming the Government’s decision, Mr N. Q. Wright, chairman of the agriculture section of North Canterbury Federated Farmers, said he had some reservations about it. The new price was in line with that recommended by representatives of farmers in negotiations last October, but since then there had been tremendous increases in costs. The Government seemingly had failed to take this into account in relation to other cropping opportunities being offered to farmers at present. It could be a case of the Government acting too late on an issue on which farm leaders had been making representations for six months. On a basis of a recent survey, the new price, under the present inflationary situation, would not attract an acreage for self-sufficiency. The chairman of the agriculture section of MidCanterbury Federated Farmers (Mr S. J. Morrow) said that the increase would barely cover increased costs.