What grain growers need to know

Press, 26 November 1982, Page 25

What grain growers need to know

Farmers finding their way to display stands 35 and 36 at the Wheat 82 Field Days are going to be greeted- with information which comes into the “you might not like this, but it is something you need to know" category. “You never hear anything from the milling industry,’’ said Mr Jeremy Wood of Zealandia Milling (1980), Ltd, and Tutton Industries, Ltd, last week. "We have decided to take the opportunity of Wheat 82 to put out some information grain growers really need to know.”

Millers may have taken a vow of silence in the past, perhaps resting in their historical aura as providers of one of man’s staple foods, but this is not a result of any lack of activity.

Some 17 New Zealand flour mills produced around 225,000 tonnes of flour from nearly 300,000 tonnes of domestic wheat and 43,000 tonnes of imported Australian wheat.

At the Zealandia mill on Blenheim Road, Christchurch, about one-tenth of the national throughput was

ground. All flour mills have a quota from the Wheat Board. Extensive rationalisation of the milling industry has taken place in recent years, but 43 per cent of the milling is still done in the South Island, where most of the wheat is, rather than the North Island, where 76 per cent of the flour is consumed. But to do less than half the milling, the South Island has 11 out of the 17 New Zealand flour mills, indicating that mills in the south are smaller and that more rationalisation could take place. Zealandia and Tutton have teamed with the Timaru Milling Company to provide material for the Wheat 82 display that the managers of the companies. hope will inform and entertain everyone who comes to the Field Days. The theme of the display is quality wheat leads to quality cereal products. It will show what happens with wheat right from the on-farm storage to delivery to bakers.

It will also graphically illustrate what can go wrong in the process — particularly when the wheat "grows legs" or becomes insect infested.

The battle against infestation is a constant one for all millers, and they take it very seriously. They wish that all farmers would take it equally seriously. Some 15 per cent of wheat receivals at Zealandia are initially rejected because of quality control problems, usually infestation, and have to be further treated or returned to the farmer. This amounts to 5000 tonnes at only the Blenheim Road mill.

“About $4O worth of actellic powder will protect 60 tonnes of wheat, worth $13,800, for nine months,” said Mr Wood.

“Every year we find

stones, insects, tools, money, birds’ nests and dead opossums.

“We must get the quality control message across to farmers, because it costs a lot of money to put right when something goes wrong," he said. The display will also feature flow diagrams of the disposal of the New Zealand wheat crop. From an average production of around 360,000 tonnes, 6 per cent goes into cereal or breakfast food manufacture, 11 per cent into stockfeed, 1 per cent into sundry such as fowl wheat and 82 per cent to the flour mills. From their large percentage the mills extract 22 per cent bran and pollard (for which there is an unsatisfied demand from stockfood manufacturers) and turn the rest into flour for bakers (58 per cent), cakes (10 per cent), home flour (9), sundry (9), biscuits (7), and starch and glucose (7 per cent). Different varieties of bread will also be on display and there will be recipes on offer. Zealandia plans to have a number of give-away leaflets for farmers. Dr Ken Somerfield, entomologist at M.A.F. Lincoln, some fumigation experts and Wheat Research Institute staff have all helped in the preparation of the millers’ stand and there will be three qualified millers on the stand to answer questions. . The milling industry has seen some big changes in recent years as there has been a substantial change in the dietary forms of wheat and its products. “Wheat crops of the future will have to satisfy new milling, baking and dietary standards,” said Mr Colin McNally, general manager of Zelandia.

“We see participation in Wheat 82 as. the first step in an education process throughout the wheat and milling industry."

RAINFALL MEASURED AT LINCOLN COLLEGE (1981 - 1982) Actual Rainfall Average Last 50 Rainfall years October 1981 94.4 mm ' 45 - 7 mm November . 1981 34.6 mm 51.0 mm December 1981 15.1 mm 57.9 mm January 1982 28.2 mm 54.9 mm ’ ■ February 1982 15.5 mm 46.5 mm March 1982 12.2 mm 56.1 mm April 1982 46.6 mm 53.0 mm May 1982 29.8 mm 65.0 mm June 19 82' 31.7 mm ■ 62.7 mm July 1982 52.3 mm . 67.8 mm August 1982 23.4 mm 55.8 ■ mm September 1982 20.8 mm 4 7.0 mm • October .1982 87.6 mm 45.7 mm