WHEAT SLUMP

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XX, Issue 75, 12 March 1930, Page 7

WHEAT SLUMP

LOWER LEVEL RECORDED.

(United Press Association-By Cable-Uopyr-igrit.l (Received 12, 10.3 a.m.) Winn.peg, March 11.

Wheat to-da.y kit the lowest lave! since May, 1929, closing at two and three-quarters to three and an eighth omits down after rallying threequarters of a cent from bottom in the last minute. May wheat closed at loot, July 107 J, and October IUBJ. WARNING TO GROWERS. (Received 12, 1.5 p.m.) Washington, March 11. Mr. Legge has issued a warning that unless wheat farmers reduce their acreage by ten per cent, to prevent another wheat surplus the Farm Board will be unable to help them to get a fair price next year. Mr. Legge, in a virtual ultimatum in a letter to Governor Shafer, of North Dakota, explained: “The board will have 100,000,000 bushels of wheat on hand at the end of this year, and there is no hope of dumping much on the export market, nor is there hope for relief of congestion at the terminal markets within 60 days. The tendency seems to be for the congestion to grow worse instead of better, which is due to rapid liquidation in Australia. Canada and Argentina.’’ Mr Legge stated that he believed this would continue at something be low the price level in the United States, no matter to what basis that level went. He continued: “If farmers are going ahead trying to produce an additional surplus on the basis that some way will be found to take care of it on a fair price level another year they arg going to be mistaken. If they co-operate the Stabilisation Corporation will be justified in paying storage charges and carrying this wheat for a time in the hope that a crop shortage somewhere in. the world will give opportunity to unload it. If, on the other hand, the farmers’ attitude is to “Let George do it all.” the natural procedure would seem to be to dispose of this wheat at the best they could and write off the loss: hut this would adversely affect the prices of the 1930 crop. There is no possible solution unless we get the co-operation of the wheat growers themselves. No other industry blindly produces without attention to potential market possibilities.