WHEAT GROWING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 March 1942, Page 3

WHEAT GROWING

INCREASED ACREAGE NEEDED CALL TO DISTRICT FARMERS. CEREALS TO MEET COUNTRY’S OWN DEMANDS. The call on farmers to grow an increased acreage of wheat to provide for New Zealand’s own needs is emphasised by Mr N. Lamont, of the Department of Agriculture, Masterton. “We are faced with the simple fact that we cannot and, for that matter, need not rely upon outside sources to help provide the nine million bushels of wheat that we consume annually in New Zealand,” said Mr Lamont. “The fact that we produce such large surpluses of some primary products has caused us to take the easy attitude that ‘after all we would never starve in New 'Zealand.’ No doubt this is true but, nevertheless, an unremitting diet of mutton, garnished with butter and cheese, is not only unattractive but also could have serious effects on the health of the community. We could quite easily suffer very seriously from shortage of vegetables and cereals, and it is, in fact, many years since we were self-supporting in respect to the latter. “Plainly and frankly we must have more wheat, 50.000 acres more wheat—not, this time, to provide for an export market dependent upon the shipping position or other countries’ changing wants, but to feed ourselves and to banish the very real shadow that hangs over us—the shadow, no less, of bread rationing. ,

“The Wairarapa is a wheat growing district and consequently has a vital role to play in providing for that most necessary of all necessities, bread. Over the past few years our contribution to the wheat production of New Zealand has been small, being in the neighbourhood of 1,000 acres per annum, but this year the size of our contribution must depend not on the whim of the individual but must be determined by the fact that we are faced with a need that may easily become a desperate one. There is no reason why 3,000 acres this year should not be our minimum aim. The Government, fully appreciating the seriousness of the wheat position, has guaranteed that petrol and labour for wheat production will be found. We have already in the district sufficient harvesting machinery to handle 3,000 acres with ease—and with careful organisation our existing plant could handle 5,000 acres. “At the present moment, there must be well over 3.000 acres of rape in the Masterton, Wairarapa South and Featherston counties. There are few beter preparatory crops for wheat than rape so that if rape growers who would normally be putting' the area back to grass in the next few weeks, would resolve now to reserve that area for wheat we would be well on the road to our 3,000 to 5,000 acres.