LARGER AREA IN WHEAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19792, 12 November 1927, Page 13

LARGER AREA IN WHEAT

INCREASE OF 50,000 ACRES

LAST HARVEST ABUNDANT.

HIGH AVERAGE YIELDS SHOWN

A further largo increase in the area sown in wheat is revealed by tho estimate compiled by the Government Statistician from returns furnished by grain growers. Tho areas sown in oats and barley aro less than last season. Potato plantings are also smaller.

Tho area sown in wheat is estimated at 270,000 acres (of which 4400 acres are in the North Island). The corresponding estimato last year was 222,000 acres, while final returns show that the actual area was 221,689 acres, of which 220,083 acres were threshed, 928 acres chaffed and 678 acres not harvested. The area sown in wheat this season the largest since 1922, though that year's was by no means a record, for on 15 occasions in the last 60 years 300,000 or more acres have been planted with wheat. Following is a summary of the final returns for the last five seasons:—

Threshed. Yield Average, Acres. Bushels. Bushels, 1922-23 . . 275.775 8.395.023 30.44 1923-24 .. 173.864 4,174,537 24.01 1924-25 . . 166,964 5,447.758 32.62 1925-26 .. 151,673 4.617,041 30.44 1926-27 . . 220,083 7,952,442 36.13

Tho consumption of wheat in New Zealand is estimated at rather more than 8,000,000 bushels, including seed requirements and poultry feed, so that the last harvest fell very little short of the calculated demand. That result was due to tho exceptionally high average yield of 36.13 bushels an acre, which is the highest for many years. The record since the beginning of the present century is 38.37 bushels in the 1903 harvest; other high yields have been 32.66 bushels in 1920, 34.75 bushels in 1909 and 35.36 bushels in 1905.

If the next harvest reaches an average of 30 bushels from the increased area, the yield will exceed 8,000,000 bushels. The last harvest of oats was also abundant, the average yield being the highest since the record of 48.71 bushels in 1912. Sowings for the current season are estimated at 312,000 acres, as compared with 386,762 acres last season; of the latter 117,326 acres were threshed, 255,372 acres cut for chaffing and 14,064 acres wert* not harvested. A summary of recent returns is as follows: — Threshed. Yield.. Average. Acres. Bushels. Bushels. 1922-23 .. 143,090 5,688,157 39.75 1923-24 . . 63,842 1,964,511 30.77 1924-25 .. 147.387 5.707,174 38.72 1925-26 . . 102,485 4.115,606 40.14 1926-27 .. 117,326 4,997,535 42.60 As against 30,414 acres of barley last season, the present estimate is 21,500 acres. The final return for 1926-27 of potato crops shows that the area was 24,616 acres (5942 acres in the North Island and 18,674 acres in the South Island). For the current season the estimate is 22,200 acres (5100 acres in the North Island and 17,100 acres in the South Island). The Government Statistician remarks that on the basis of the average of the Jast five seasons (viz. 5.34 tons an acre), the total estimated yield from this area should approximate 118,500 tons, as against 116,771 tons last season.