Optimism as grain harvest lifts
If you want to secure quality domestically produced grain, which is traceable, get in contact with your arable farmer. Federated Farmers arable chairman Guy Wigley
Despite a potentially ruinous autumn, New Zealand’s grain harvest was up this year compared with the year before.
Wheat yields rose 12 per cent, barley increased 8 per cent and milling and feed oats were ahead 10 per cent.
Federated Farmers arable chairman Guy Wigley said the country’s 2800 arable farmers had reported a significant air of optimism in the latest Arable Industry Marketing Initiative (AIMI) survey.
It predicts that over the six cereal crops, the harvest hectares next year will be 13 per cent higher on this year’s amount (from 108,400ha to 122,100ha).
‘‘The industry can take heart from this year’s final yields. Although it was a difficult harvest, it turned out to be above average,’’ Wigley said.
There was good demand for feed from the dairy and poultry industries, while pork was still ‘‘hanging in there’’.
Wigley said with recent advice to dairy farmers to ease up on palm kernel use, the arable industry was in a good position to take up the slack.
There was also ‘‘tremendous capacity’’ for maize silage growing in the North Island.
Spring planting is expected to begin in North Canterbury and Mid Canterbury over the next month and further south if sodden ground dries out. The majority of milling wheat and feed wheat crop had been planted with only a third of barley crop sown.
Feed barley was on the rebound and returning to normal areas with a 51 per cent increase likely compared with this year’s harvest.
Wigley encouraged farmers who had planted milling wheat to get in contact with flour millers about the coming harvest. While there was reasonable tonnage of feed barley still available at the time of the July survey, buyers should be taking steps to secure grain before that surplus runs out.
‘‘If you want to secure quality domestically produced grain, which is traceable, get in contact with your arable farmer. Current trends are suggesting there may soon be no uncommitted grain left in farm silos, especially in Southland, North Otago and the North Island,’’ Wigley said.