FAVOURED WHEAT GROWERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22517, 7 September 1936, Page 8

FAVOURED WHEAT GROWERS

An illustration of the one-sided nature of the bargain between the wheat growers and the Government is offered by the appeal to the growers issued by the Minister of Industries and Commerce to sow spring wheat. Mr. Sullivan holds out the prospect of a world shortage and higher prices, and he goes so far as to name profitable varieties for spring sowing. Even so he must be aware that farmers will not grow wheat unless it suits them. They will cast up the prospects as compared with wool, fat lambs, or dairying at the guaranteed price, and follow the line that promises to be most profitable. The crop rotation followed in the South will be another consideration. The supposed national interest, that New Zealand should be self-supporting in wheat production, will not enter into the growers' calculations. That is used as a convenient argument for forcing up the price of wheat, flour and bread to artificially high levels, for ignoring the interests of the consumer and the need of poultry farmers and pig raisers for cheap and plentiful grain. The argument has convinced politicians for many years, wheat growing has been expensively fostered, but it depends wholly on the growers whether the national objective is realised. Often there is a shortage for domestic needs and wheat has to be imported. Thus the present policy has been proved a failure, and from time to time it will continue to fail unless some obligation is placed on the growers. Being assured of a market at high prices, they should be prepared to make a return by giving reasonable guarantees of supply and quality. That would be fairer to the rest of the people who have at present to pay dearly for uncertain supplies, which sometimes are of indifferent quality for human and animal consumption. Some responsibilities should attach to the wheat growers' privileges.