Fine weather boost to harvest

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 2

Fine weather boost to harvest

The continuing fine weather in Canterbury has boosted farmers’ hopes of getting the wheat harvest completed without further delay and deterioration in grain quality.

The Wheat Board said yesterday that sufficient wheat had now been harvested and tested from the greater Canterbury area to confirm the preliminary test results which showed that the over-all wheat quality levels will this year be lower than usual.

However, quality tests have shown that this wheat can be used to produce perfectly satisfactory flour and bread results provided it is carefully blended with high-quality lines, according to the deputy chairman of the board, Sir James Stewart.

The Wheat Board is therefore arranging its 1984 wheat import programme to facilitate the placement, use, and blending of wheat from the Canterbury harvest so as to ensure that flour quality is maintained at a satisfactory level “The uptake and movement of local wheat will therefore be dependent upon the maintenance of suitable stocks at mills,” the board said.

“In these circumstances, in many instances forward delivery arrangements may not be able to be finalised until after the harvest has been completed.”