COSTS OF GROWING BARLEY

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 284, 26 August 1940, Page 3

COSTS OF GROWING BARLEY

Estimate Of £lO/0/6 An Acre LOSS PREDICTED AT 3/6 A BUSHEL Dominion Special Service . SANSON, August 24. The question of the price to be.paid for barley grown in response to the Government’s appeal to farmers to help the war effort was discussed nt a large 5attended meeting of Jet® branch of the Primary I reduction Conn /.il Mr C. E. Vile, presided. After hearing addresses by Messrs. Keiller and Chamberlain, who em nhasized the fact that, bacon exports could Sot be increased unless the acreage of bariey, which was the main ' arv feed, were increased. S ?F, that 181 acres had been promised m the p earee said it appeared as if nature were going to upset the tion of growing barley. rl indication that there would he a lai-e increase in the number of lambs. Mr. Keillor suggested growing rape o turnips, and mentioned that farmeis were not ejected Io plough up good pasture, but only run-out pasture . . When asked by Mr. R- F- Scott what the price for barley would be, Mr Keiller said that, question had exercised the minds of the council a great deal A minimum guaranteed price ot ~/u would be. paid by the Internal Maritering Department, but the council bad battled to have it increased to 3/9; on two occasions, he and Mr. J. Linklater had been to Wellington in an endeavour to have the price raised. The Department of Agriculture realized that 3/6 was too low, and it. also was endeavouring to have the price raised to 3/9: it appeared, however, that the Marketing Department ■was endeavouring: to make a little out ot it. Ho did not expect t’mt lT K ‘. e would be raised above the 3/6; that, however, was only a minimum price, anil there was nothing to prevent a farmer selling to bis neighbour nt 4/-.

Costs of Growing

Mr. H. J. Fagan said that. Messrs. C. E. Eglinton and B. S. Lawrence hud prepared figures' showing the costs an acre involved in growing barley. It. was not his intention or the intention of the men who had prepared the estimate to throw cold water on the barley-growing scheme, but. they felt, those costs of production should be pointed out. The costs fin acre were: Ploujjhintf 20/-, discinj? (four-cut) 16/-, harrowing (two-slroke) 5/-, sowing 7/6. cutting 10/-. threshing (based on a 50-bushel crop) 25/-. stocking 7/6. stacking 21/-. binder-twine 7/-, sacks (1/3 each) 15/6. freight to Feilding 11/-, seed (2|lb.) 15/-. manure (2cwt.) 10/-. interest on land (5 per cent.) 30/-. making a total of £lO/0/6 an acre. Based on a 50-bushel crop, the loss would be 25/6. Mr. Chamberlain said that speaking from memory, he thought it had been estimated that the profit would be'approximately 15/-. During the last war. said Mr. W. E. Pearce, the then Prime Minister. Mr. Massey, had made an appeal to the fanners to grow wheat, the price paid for it being 5/-; it had cost 8/- a bushel to produce. and it seemed to him that the same position would come about in the present war. If the price for wool, butter and cheese stood at a fair level, then the farmer who grew barley would have to face a loss in order to help the nation. Mr. Fagan said he shared the attitude of Mr. Pearce, and felt that growers of barley would have to grow it for patriotic purposes. He was not able to grow barley, but he intended Io grow peas. The chairman emphasized that the men who had taken out the costs did not do so with Iho idea of throwing cold water on the scheme, but merely to show what the costs were. The mooting did not pass any motion on the subject, and a vote of thanks, on the motion of lhe chairman, was accorded Messrs. Keillor and Chamberlain.