REDUCED SOWINGS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 70, 19 September 1925, Page 8

REDUCED SOWINGS

WHEAT MUST BE IMPORTED

GEAVB REPORTS FROM CANTERBURY.

A comprehensive and informative' review of the wheat-growing position in Canterbury has been made by the "Lyttelton Times." That journal has been at some pains "to obtain its information from practically every locality in Canterbury where wheat is grown. The "Lyttelton Times," in introducing its district reports, stated: "Canterbury claims with some justice to be the granary of New Zealand. The wheat crops pf;this province usually furnish the necessaiy supplies for milling purposes. This season there will be a large shortage,' and the Dominion will probably require to import on an unusually large scale. The long-continued wet weather has prevented the sowing of wheat seed, and the. outlook for spring sowing iB poor." Improvements in- weather on Wednesday antf Thursday caused the journal to take a more hopeful view of the situation in expectation of late spring sowings on 'higher lands. , . The following lines, are taken from the,district reports above referred to:— Ohoka: "It is estimated that ■ the ous. Briefly, the position is that the area that will be in wheat at the end of September may be estimated not to exceed 50 or 60 per cent, of that in wheat last year. . A few speculative sowings have been made by farmers who are not usually wlieat growers. Most 'of the larger wheat growers in the district have bo far got little in, and the prospects in regard to sowings are far from good." Cusfc and West Eyreton: "Acreage sown in wheat, 1925, 1467 acres; 1924, 3097." ' , . ' ' . ' ■

' Ohoka : "It is estimated that the wheat yield in this district may only reach half that of a normal season."

Leithfield: "Wheat area much below the average. One farmer says that he has sown aboiifhalf as much, as last year. Some who had from . twelve to twenty acres la3t season have none at all now. Another who had 100 acres in 1924-25 has none at all this year. Another farmer'(near Balcairn) who had 100' acres' last year has about twenty acres in ' ' now. The larger' wheat growers of the district consider it is safe to say that this year's acreage in wheat is about one-third of last'year's. The decrease is due to the adverse weather conditions—the extremely wet autumn and spring." . . ,;' .' Amberley: : "Numbers of farmers in this district who usually have from ten to fifty acres in wheat,. and who have not succeeded in getting one acre in; Others again have only their usual sowing.. \Vith\the', appearance. bf-/-ispririg, conditions have" not improved, and it is improbable that there will be any large. sowings -now." ■':■■' ■ ■ . .'■••.. Fernside: "Only 25 to 30 per cent, of last year's sowings have been made. Prospects regarding wheat crops in this: district very grave indeed*" . ~-.. ■■'..■ . Sefton: ','About. 25 per cent, of average, wheat crop bas been sown." . • Kimberley:. "Sowing 75 per cent, of laßt year." ■:■•'■;.' ■•„'■ .-. li.-.' ':.■ •■' ■■■.'-■'-'"''.•/■• : Waiau:.'"L'ast: year 530 acres under wheat, but f up tb present only 25 per cent, of this area sown." r .-.";,.; . >

Scargill: "The .area sown this, season is about the usual acreage, thoughprobably there would have been ran increase in the area sown had it been possible ,tb get it sown. .The'wheat crops have 'suffered severely, as the effects of the prolonged wet; weather, and have been partly drowned out.'.: The area that will eventually b,e harvested will probably be less.than fifty acres."- ;■ Mayfield :•. "Seventeen farmers last year had a total of about 400, while this year the autumn-sown' is in the vicinity of 350 acres. There is. not much prospect of any being sown in the spring, as the ground is absolutely waterlogged." ' .-', -' : v .-.. "'-, Geraldine: ''Estimates vary greatly, but it seems fairly safe to say that unless an immediate, improvement in weather conditions takes place the coming harvest will provide less, than half the wheat that was;produced here, last season;" • ■ ;. ' : ■•■■';- ■'•■'..■ '■'- ■.■■■.'■ ' '.■'■ Woodbury: "Where there was a total of 158 acres in.wheat.last year, only thirteen acres are ■ in: this year so Jar, so the outlook is not bright." > Taitapu: "Even should the weather clear the land will be in such a condition 1 as to reftder: cultivation .impossible, for some weeks.- There is little chance of much spring wheat beingsowh.". ■ Ashburton: "With the conditionsypre-: vailing it is impossibleto estimate'with any •. reasonable degree of accuracy the acreage that will be sown in wheat this season. . .; All depends kipon the weather, and even should a change for the better set in at once if is , doubtful, whether the land would dry rapidly enough to ensure the full area intended to be worked before the season is too far advanced for.,sowing. Farmers are anxious to get in as much as possible, but even .under the best conditions henceforth the chances are that the wheat area will be smaller than'usual. Should September remain wet, wheat-sowing will be out of the question." Eakaia:; "Up to the . present 60 per cent.- of ; last year's >rea in wheat has been sown. Some . late autumn-sown grain perished." ; ... ■-: :. •' ' '. i Teinuka: "This' year's yield is esti-. !mated at about 50 per cent, of last' year's, but the yield- will depend on the results of wheat now sown on the downs.. The prospects are good, but on the flat country' the land has: been water-logged for a, lengthy period. It will require very favourable circumstances for 50 per cent, of the average yield to be harvested." : ■ "■ ' • '..'''

Cheviot: "There were 220 acres of wheat sown in the ■ autumn throughout the whole district, and it would be safe to say that 70 acres of that has been drowned out, so that about 150 acres should b« all that coxild be recorded as under wheat cultivation. \The area in wheat last year was'about 700 acres." Darfield: " ''The percentage of wheat sown, counting a few paddocks yet-to be completed, is 92 per ■■ cent, of . what was sown last season. This percentage represents 80 per cent, of the acreage that would have^been sown had the weather been; more favourable. Inquiries made showed that where 960 acres were sown la t s.t' year, 843 had been sown this, season.'* ' .

Kaiapoi:' "Wheat in this district is hot an important crop, being mostly one of rotation, and about 1000 acres would be grown inside a radius of five miles of Kaiapoi. Tho position at present, even if the good weather holds, is that only about half the ai'ea of wheat will be sown." .■. ■ . ■

EUesmere County: "Few farmers have more than a quarter of the quantity, of wheat in that they intended to sow, and in many cases the percentage is much lower than that." '•■...'

Springston South: "The number of acres approximately sown in wheat in this • district 'is SO, compared' with 300 sown last year: If the fine weather continues more wheat will be-put in, but the majority of farmers ai'o.now going.lp sow peas'. The weather has seriously delayed all farm work.". ''■'•••. ■•'...•

Ashburton Forks: "Mr. Frank Evana, a ui«mb«r of ihi Mid-Canterbury Farm-

ers' Union, in regard to the wheat prospects in the Forks district, said: ."The wheat prospect: is a very serious one.,. He and his neighbours, he said, usually had from 1800 to 2000 bushels, but this •year none of the farmers had been able to get wheat in. If wheat was not put in before the end of the month it would hot go in, at least it would.be a.very optimistic farmer who would sow later. Only phenomenal weather would now dry the land sufficiently for sowing before the end of the,month." . . Timaru: "Wheat-growing has steadily receded in favour, and present indications would point most unmistakably to the industry declining still further; indeed, there appears to be:a danger that the time is not far distant when South Canterbury will not produce sufficient wheats for its own requirements. . . The certain shortage in the wheat crop ia, however, causing grave concern in many quartera,.but. the peojile are becoming reconciled to the fact that/South Canterbury has practically gone out of business as a wheat-growing centre.'