NEXT YEAR’S CROP

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21735, 17 August 1940, Page 12

NEXT YEAR’S CROP

Will Enough Potatoes Be Planted? Growers Answer In The Negative WAIMATE, August 16. Will enough potatoes be sown this year to meet next year’s requirements? At the present moment Waimate potato growers are answering that question in the negative, and their reasons are very explicit. The Government by fixing a maximum price, will not allow potatoes to rise above £4/10/a ton. That price, which is f.0.b., sacks in, means a return of £3/15/a ton to the grower, if he is fortunate enough to obtain the maximum price. But, on present day costs, the maximum price is below the average cost of production. The typical reply to questions about next year’s crop is: “Will growers be mugs enough to go on growing potatoes when a loss is guaranteed?” Potato farmers proceed to refer to the point that their present unsatisfactory position is largely due to the fact that they responded to the Governments appeal to increase production. After they did that, the Government has stopped any chance of recouping losses by limiting the price of potatoes at a figure at which crops cannot be grown. In about a month’s time, the sowing of next year’s potato crop starts in the Waimate district. On present indications the crop will be a very small one. If the Government desires to give growers any encouragement and to ensure that there will be an adequate potato crop for next season, it should not delay an announcement. Potato growers complain that all sorts of official statements have been made, but the matter is still left in a most unsatisfactory position. As an instance, free railage for potatoes as stock food was recently put forward as a remedy, but with the winter, and a particularly mild winter at that, nearly over, very few potatoes will be needed for stock food. Apart from growers, it is not generally realised how much money is tied up in unsold potatoes. The loss of that capital is going to cramp farm finance, and farmers in many cases will have difficulty in paying for seed and manure for topdressing purposes. Even in cases where half a crop was sold forward at good rates, growers still stand to lose heavily. So far the Government’s entry into the potato growing industry has caused more harm than good, and as growers sum up the position at present, potatoes, by the fixing of a maximum price, have been legally made an unprofitable crop.