A WHEAT CRISIS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 182, 3 July 1937, Page 8

A WHEAT CRISIS

Facing the worst crop failure in history, the wheat tarmers of Saskatchewan are in a plight which, the latest cabled reports state, is rapidly creating an economic crisis and appeals have been made to the Dominion Government at' Ottawa for relief. Much of the wheat land there is stated to be definitely beyond hope, while the province of Alberta, too, needs rain. So acute are conditions in the former area that the people fear starvation if help is not speedily granted. These areas lie on the southern border and are regarded generally as a continuation of the United States “Dust Bowl,” of which much has been heard in the last two years,, particularly because of the ruin of farmers and general distress created by prolonged droughts. Last year the Saskatchewan authorities had to pass drastic legislation for debt and tax relief of the settlers affected ; thousands of head of stock had to be transported to other lands, while the soil became pulverised into drifts and over vast tracts of land had to be abandoned. Earlier, in 1934, the yield of wheat in the prairie provinces fell to 114,000,000 bushels, a colossal shrinkage when compared with the peak year of 1926, when 321,000,000 bushels were harvested. Falling prices, too, have contributed to the farmer’s difficulties, though marketing plans have been brought forward to bring about better conditions. To add to the present distress, it is reported from Montreal that a wheat expert who has been on a 1000-mile tour of the winter wheat belt found every field he inspected badly infested with rust and severely damaged, the conditions being similar to those in previous years when wholesale destruction of crops became necessary. The question facing the Canadian authorities is how long relief measures can contimie to be given at the expense of the taxpayers, and already attempts have been made to convert some of the abandoned agricultural lands to pasture, attention being devoted to meat raising and dairy farming. The repercussions of such farming conditions on a big scale must be wide, for a wheat crisis of the kind that has now arisen is likely to cause concern not only in the chief consuming countries which do not grow thenown, but in countries whose meat and dairy produce markets overseas may be detrimentally atfected by the products from the converted wheat lands.