WHEAT PRODUCTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19475, 9 May 1925, Page 8

WHEAT PRODUCTION.

There is no end to the discussion of the problem of wheat production in New Zealand. The general public is deeply interested in the question for the sufficient reason that one of the necessaries of life is bread. What the public wants, however, is not precisely what the wheat growers want or whadj.

the millers want. This country is not growing nearly enough wheat for its own requirements, and so long as this is the case apparently the price ruling for this essential commodity is not to be less than that—including duty at which Australian wheat can bo landed here. That clearly means a dear loaf in New Zealand. Unfortunately if the duty on Australian wheat were lifted the consequence would be that the farmers would give up growing wheat in this country, and that is the very last result desired in a country that hag aimed at being self-reliant in the matter of wheat production. That the inducements which have been offered to the farmer to grow wheat have not encouraged him sufficiently is apparent, but the circumstances are such that ,he is sure of a patient hearing when he states his side of the case. For if he were to go out of the wheat-growing business altogether the position of the dominion would be distinctly unfortunate. This country cannot afford to be always dependent on Australia for its supplies of wheat. There is an abundant wheat surplus in the Commonwealth this year, but let a season of drought supervene and Australia would be unable to meet even her own requirements. In that event New Zealand would have to look further afield for her wheat importations and pay a price accordingly. The question, therefore, whether the wheat industry should be protected in New Zealand in order that the farmer may grow wheat—with the result that the loaf would be permanently dear—remains one that is fruitful of controversy. The farmer seems I to oqcupy a stronger position than he cares to admit. The present shortage of dominion-grown wheat is about 3,500,000 bushels, and everything points to the shortage becoming rela- . tively more accentuated unless some solution of the problem is arrived at. It is to be remembered that while the area put down in wheat has diminished the population of the dominion is increasing. Further, the point is not to be ignored that while the world’s demand for wheat "must steadily increase there is no prospect that the world’s supply will increase in the same ratio. In ,a report on wheat production in New Zealand recently issued by the Department of Economics of Canterbury College it was observed: “ The present tendency for farmers to neglect wheat is mainly due to the uncertain market, prospects of wheat. In wheat-growing, even more than' in other industries, faith in the future is essential to efficient production.” But why the fanner in New Zealand should have less faith in wheat-growing than the farmer of I other countries is not, after all, quite satisfactorily explained. Certainly the fact cannot be overlooked that dairying has lencroached on wheat-growing on the smaller farms, while sheep-raising and fattening have encroached on wheat on the medium and larger farms. The. circumstance- that the owners of wheat lands in New Zealand are, as a whole, not particularly anxious to grqw wheat remains a dominant factor in the tion. The problem is complicated by the extent to, which the millers ffigure in it as the intermediary between, the farmers, whose wheat they buy, and the public, which is interested in the price of flour. The millers were clearly impressed the recent plain-speaking of the Minister of Agriculture in his warning ojf what might happen if they “pushed the farmers too far.” Subsequently Mr Nosworthy was able to express his satisfaction that, as a result of conferences held, an arrangement had been adopted which would mean that the farmers would receive prices sufficient to encourage them to increase their areas in wheat, and that a reduction in the price of flour and bread would be brought about by the consent of the millers to accept reduced profits, thus helping the industry upon which theijf existence depended. This sounds promising, and it is to be hoped that the reasons for Ministerial satisfaction will not be evanescent. If they are, it will not .be the first occasion upon which calculations based on the supply of wheat have been upset.. The discussion at the conference of wheat growers and millers at Ashburton this week is said to have ended apparently in the delegates reaching an agreement “satisfactory to all parties.” ! Whether these “all parties” included the consumers we shall learn later on.