DEAR WHEAT EXPECTED

Marlborough Express, Volume LIIII, Issue 83, 9 April 1920, Page 4

DEAR WHEAT EXPECTED

VICTORIAN MJNISTERfS PLAN

APPEAL FOR RECJOED CHOP.

CAMPAIGN AMONG FARMERS*.

: Efforts are being made ; byv the Vicetorian Government to secure a wheat crop of 4,000,000 acres. During the. ; past four years the area under wheat. iiu the State has declined! from. &4----679,000 acres to 2,214,00 i): acres. Pamphlets that are. being distrir buted by the Department oi Agricul*ture among farmers in. the wheat country state that whan a similar : appeal was made five, years agoj the /response was a crop of 4,160,000. ; acres, of which 490,000; acres were cut ; for hay. Farmers were now being Urged to sow a.Peace-crop of. 4,000.,----000 acres, and, with favorable autumn rains, thisi should be possible. In an address to farmers, the. Mm- ' ister for Agriculture^ Mr Oman, said the "more wheat' campaign. '-was.; part iof the general effort to increase.; proi duotion in order t® meet the? war f debt. Discussing the prospects for ; wheak-growing, Mr Oman saidi wheat | was bringing faming prices in-Europe. 11 he.teaching of history was that the ! i.rice of wheat soared after, every j war, and the "recent trend; oi wheat prices indicated1 that history would •again repeat itself. Several years must elapse before Europe, could be supplied with sufficient food to feed the starving populations and . maintain normal reserves. Should the new crop harvested in the northern hemisphere fall short uf requirements, furtefeor increases in priege would appear inevitable. Next year, with a good season and! a large acreage under crop, Victoria would be in «'i fine position to meet her war obligations by disposinst of her surplus wheat at highly favorable prices. The Government1" had guaranteed a minimum price of 5s «• bushel. 'Wheatgrowers therefore knew before they sowed that the price at harvest would bo profitable. He urged them to bend their energies to the sowing of a record acreage during the coming season. A heavy crop would give a hirge exportable r.urplus, which would realise high prices abroad.