NEXT SEASON'S WHEAT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 2 April 1930, Page 5

NEXT SEASON'S WHEAT

LARGEft: AGftJSAGS anticipated

It is reported from the Wheat Pool office that the meetings held in CantorWheat Pool have been very satisfactory, and as a result a number of free-grow-ers have applied of their own accord for membership.

The belief is current that there will be a larger area in wheat next year—• about 300,000 acres, it is estimated — and members of the Wheat Pool Board maintain that the Pool is the only way to ensure a stable market. The prospect of a heavy yield and consequently slow market is stimulating the new applicants for membership. An area of 300,00 u acres in wheat is not a record one by any means, having been exceeded on 16 occasions in the 60 years in which records have been taken, but it will be not far short of 30 per cent, more than hist season's area, which aggregated 234,000 acres. With an average yield of 30 bushels per acre the area will provide a suffi-' cieht crop to fill requirements, but the yield will need to be about 31.3 to allow sufficient quantity for carrying over. Naturally, the weather has a great deal to do with the yield, but it must be reckoned that a large proportion of the land going to be used for wheatgrowing next season will be light, and will therefore not reach a high return per acre. The continued dry weather may retard tillage operations, and affect the areas sown in the autumn, hut it is too early yet to make any calculations in this respect. THIS SEASON'S YIELD

The Government estimate of the average wheat yield per aero for this season is 30.4 bushels. However, the consensus of opinion now is that that figure will not be reached, and an estimate given by a close observer who has just completed a tour of Canterbury to a representative of "The Press," coincides with this view. ITis estimate is an average of between 23 and 29 bushels per acre. Quite a number of farmers, nidging on the returns in their own particular districts, forecast an average below this.