WHEAT AND OATS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LXII, Issue 74, 16 September 1941, Page 2

WHEAT AND OATS

CROP RETURNS AND

PROSPECTS

THE HARVEST IN CANTERBURY

Splendid sunshine harvest weather was experienced for the 1940-41 crop and last year's record of quality was repeated. Practically all the wheat passed, any rejections there were being absorbed as fowl wheat at full prices, stated the Annual Review of Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd. The area sown was 244,000 acres, yielding, according to the threshing returns, 8,400,000 bushels, an average of 34.47 bushels per acre. The yield was fully three bushels better • than the previous year and a repetition of this average at next harvest would leave the Dominion self-supporting, thus obviating the importation of not only wheat but of bran and pollard. "The acreage aimed at for 1941 was in the vicinity of 300,000 acres and a considerable quantity of spring sowing would have to take, place to assure this area. The new variety, Fife Tuscan, released last year by the Research Institute in conjunction with Lincoln College gave good results, some yields being as high as 60-70 bushels per acre. , The actual area under oats in 1940 was 268,541 acres, 49,751 being threshed, yielding 2,081,106 bushels j the balance of the area being reserved for chaff. The estimated area for 1941 is 297,000 acres and the estimated yield 2,810,000. Crops on the whole were good, but the dry weather affected quality somewhat. The chaff demand had been non-existent, owing to a very mild winter. The actual area under potatoes in 1940 was 20,033 acres, the yield high and much above Dominion requirements. The estimated area for 1941 is 18,000 acres, the crops a partial failure, with those growers who have been fortunate enough to have a good crop being very reluctant to sell, except at what they

consider a reasonable price. In this action they are thoroughly justified, says the report, having in mind last season when they practically gave their produce away. The potato market might well be described as the cross-word puzzle of the produce trade, as it has everybody guessing from start to. finish. There are few potatoes held in store at the present time, compared with other years, in fact we have never seen less at this period, and the market may aptly be described as a growers' market. The actual area sown in barley in 1940 was 31,728 acres, and the estimate for this year is about the same, but an increase of 31d per bushel in the price might encourage a few more acres.