CANTERBURY’S GRAIN CROPS

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14068, 15 February 1939, Page 6

CANTERBURY’S GRAIN CROPS

SECOND EDITION

PROSPECTS FOR 1933 HARVEST DROP OX LAST YEAR S YIELD Electrn T^fegrapli—Press Association CHRISTCHLRCH, This Day. Canterbury’s wheat harvest this season is expected to yield an average of something like 31 bushels to the acre, compared with iast year’s return of 34.88 bushels. The harvest is r.ow well under way, and in different districts there are marked variations in yield and quality. In a number of districts “take all” is fairly common, and in two or three cases at least has caused an almost entire loss of crops. A fair amount of straw-break has also been experienced in the P. Mcgillivrav fields. INCREASED SOWING LIKELY NEXT YEAR.

The Superintendent of the Department of Agriculture said that in iiis opinion next season's sowing would be greatly increased, and it was likely that the whole of the 250,000 acres necessary to meet New Zealand’s requirements would be put down in wheat. With the uncertainty of the prospects for mutton and lamb many farmers were turning to wheat, with its guaranteed price.' The Wheat Committee’s estimate of the -yheld this season is 32.40 bushels to the acre. This figure was arrived at from returns sent in by farmers throughout the province, but it is considered by many to be too high. OATS AND BARLEY. The position with oats is uncertain as a lot of the crop has gone into stack, but. it is fairly certain that with Autumn-sowis oats there has been a distinct reduction in yield. Bariev promises good yields, probably on-1 v slightly under last year’s average. In Marlborough a lot of the crop will only be of feed quality, as barley was badly affected by adverse weather in January and lias not filled out well.