WHEAT SHORTAGE LIKELY

Evening Star, Issue 22193, 22 November 1935, Page 14

WHEAT SHORTAGE LIKELY

ABNORMAL IMPORTS FORECAST [Per United Press Association.! CHRISTCHURCH, November 22. The prediction was mad© this morning by the fields superintendent of the Department of Agriculture, Mr R. M'Gillivray, that the wheat yield in New Zealand this season would need to be extremely good to provide sufficient for ordinary requirements within New Zealand. Allowing for the normal import of wheat, or its equivalent, amounting to approximately three-quar-ters of a million bushels, the quantity available, calculated on the basis of 30 bushels an acre, would be 8,250,000 bushels, which - would still be insufficient for the Dominion’s normal requirements when the necessary seed was included.

Mr M'Gillivray said that in many cases farmers, and business people also, had evinced much surprise at the Government Statistician’s estimate of the wheat acreage for this year. The Statistician in his recent returns showed the acreage this year as 246,000 acres, as compared with some 232,000 in the 1934-35 season. Although the Statistician’s estimate might appear somewhat on the low side, careful observers were of opinion "that the acreage under wheat in New Zealand this year would not be much over 250,000 acres. “ With that area under wheat,” said Mr M'Gillivray, “ wo will need an extremely good yield to provide sufficient wheat for our own requirements. Two hundred and fifty thousand acres, calculated at 30 bushels to the acre, would give us approximately 7,500,000 bushels of wheat. There is a normal import of wheat of approximately three-quarters of a million bushels. That would bring our available wheat supplies up to eight and a-quarter million bushels. That quantity is still insufficient for the Dominion’s normal requirements when the necessary seed is included. It will, therefore, be apparent that unless the average yield considerably exceeds 30 bushels an acre, we will have to import more than the usual amount of wheat in the coming year.”