Problems plague Southland growers

Press, 23 September 1983, Page 20

Problems plague Southland growers

One of the results of a disastrous wheat growing year in Southland, a cargo of undergrade wheat, will begin loading in Bluff on October 1 for export.

But while the year might have been a very difficult one for growers, the result has not been all bad, because the price received for the export shipment is almost as good as the New Zealand standard milling price.

Recently the Southland and Otago Grain Pool successfully negotiated the sale of 22,000 tonnes of undergrade wheat to an undisclosed overseas buyer. The wheat will be shipped on the Korean-registered vessel, M.V. Linnesbon.

The chairman of the grain pool, Mr D. J. Price, announced that the sale was for a maximum of 22,000 tonnes at SUSI4O per tonne. This was expected to return a price of between SNZI9O and |2OO per tonne at Bluff. Growers will, of course, have had considerable expenses in drying, storing and transporting the grain, now that it has been sold as export feed wheat. A further 20,000 tonnes of suspect wheat is being held in Southland storage and after retesting by the port grader for the board in Bluff, only 2000 to 2500 tonnes will be accepted as milling grade. The balance

will have to be exported. That grain is showing black point and shrivelling, which is not surprising, seeing that much of it remained standing in the field for weeks or even months after normal harvesting times.

The terms “disastrous” and “catastrophic” have been applied to the wheat harvest in Southland this year, writes the former farm editor of “The Press,” Mr D. L. Fyfe. It is the second year in succession that there have been problems with the Southland crop. On the basis of baking tests carried out by the Wheat Research Institute in Christchurch less than half of the crop has qualified as milling grade. Only 48 per cent has reached or exceeded the mechanical dough development (MDD) test score of 12 necessary for milling.

The average test score for Southland wheat this season was only 11.

At the root of the problem has been the Southland weather. During the growing season there was virtually no summer and a lack of sunshine with only about three fine days in three months. Mr T. A. Mitchell, director of the Wheat Research Institute, has put the very low quality of Southland and Otago wheat

down to the grain never having had a chance to mature or ripen. He says the institute’s staff have no scientific evidence for this but they have observed a similar set of conditions before in Otago. Just how poor Southland wheat is this season as far as baking quality is concerned is demonstrated by the fact that Mr Mitchell says that no baker would complain about wheat with a score of 20 and that the industry could live with a score of 18, but where the score falls below that the situation then starts to get “dicey.”

Early in June it was reported that if all Southland and Otago wheat with a score of below 18 was rejected for milling some 97 per cent would be turned down.

Now it seems that there are other troubles as well with this season’s crop, which can make it unsuitable for milling. These are a fungal disease, black point, and shrivelling, which have occurred on a scale not previously seen. Bread made from flour from wheat containing black point is darker coloured. Where the grains are shrivelled, as well as a colour effect less flour is produced. Even when the damaged wheat is blended with better wheat there is a

loss of flour in the milling process from the better grain too.

Four shipments of wheat have been made from Bluff this season to North Island mills and with the steadily declining quality of these shipments combined with the problems associated with black point and shrivelling the northern mills are no longer prepared to accept this wheat because they are unable to achieve satisfactory blends with Australian wheat. Earlier in the season Southland and Otago Grain Pool, Ltd, was formed to dispose of undergrade wheat.

In the sort of situation that has arisen this season the Wheat Board has a key role in maintaining supplies and ensuring that flour and bread quality is maintained at a reasonably satisfactory level.

The board has therefore felt obliged to organise the movement of some higher quality Canterbury wheat to the mill in Invercargill and the two Dunedin mills.

The problems in Southland have also upset the Wheat Board’s calculations about the likely quantity of overseas wheat that will be needed this year to fill the gap between local production and requirements in the country as a whole. Last year New Zealand

imported 70,000 tonnes of Australian wheat. This season, prior to harvest, it was estimated that New Zealand would need about 55,000 tonnes and it was expected that this would come from South Australia.

Working on bake score as the arbiter, after testing of the Southland harvest had been completed it was estimated that the shortfall would be of the order of 100,000 tonnes.

The most recent developments with black point and shrivelling have indicated a need for imported grain perhaps as much as 120,000 tonnes.

At a present purchase price of sAustl77 per tonne, imports could cost New Zealand SNZ29 million f.0.b., plus shipping. This is the second year in a row that there have been problems with wheat in Southland. Last year moisture and humid conditions at harvest time resulted in sprouting of the grain. The Minister of Trade and Industry then exercised powers given him under the Wheat Board Act to enable wheat with a sprout index of up to S 3 to be accepted for milling. That action resulted in Southland and Otago growers earning $3.6M more than would otherwise have been the case and saved the country $9.4M in overseas funds.