MAIZE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1939, Page 3

MAIZE

PRODUCTION IN DOMINION. Maize for threshing is grown chiefly in the Poverty Bay and Bay of Plenty districts, with smaller acreages in North Auckland and Hawke’s Bay. The total area averages approximately 7.000 acres, and the yield recorded is about 350,000 bushels. A scheme of minimum price fixation has been adopted, and the price for the 1939 crop has been on the basis of 5s 6d f.o.b.s.i. Gisborne.

One of the difficulties in the marketing of maize is the cost of transport from the districts which produce a surplus to the consuming centres, writes A. T. Shannon in the “Journal of Agriculture.” For example, the cost from f.o.b. Gisborne to ex-wharf Auckland or Wellington is approximately Is per bushel. As a result, this grain has been considered too expensive for use in pig production, and its sale has been practically speaking, confined to the poultry industry. Importations of maize are necessary in most seasons to supply the market during the late autumn and winter months, as local crops are not usually mature enough for shelling before July. The average quantity imported during the past six years has been 90.000 bushels, but in one of those years a total of 250,000 bushels was imported. Local maize growers are protected by a duty of Is 6d per cental on maize imported from British countries. and 2s per cental on maize from foreign countries. The extension of maize growing to supply New Zealand requirements fully has been suggested, but it is felt unwise to encourage the breaking-up of first-class permanent pasture in the maize-growing districts on any large scale. The Department has experimental work in progress with a view to testing out the possibilities of growing early-maturing types of maize in other districts, and it is possible that maize may be ripened quite .successfully in such areas as the Central Waikato. In addition to the area sown in maize for threshing, approximately 7,000 acres are grown each year for feeding-off green or for ensilage. For this purpose it is usual to sow one of the white-seeded varieties, and it is frequently necessary to import seed of this variety from Australia.