STOCK FEED:
To cut reliance on imports, some are thinking about milling wheat locally, writes Toni McDonald.
Poor harvests, droughts and high demand, together with low supply and delayed stock killing options, have created a “perfect storm” pushing animal supplement feed prices to record highs.
Southland grain farmer Mike Wilkins said grain and fertiliser prices were further affected by the RussianUkraine war, which was putting pressure on the animal feed supply.
Commodity import prices had been affected by wars before, but not at the same time the market was coping with its own internal shortages, Wilkins said.
Additionally, the Government’s decision to keep the borders closed helped to create the present labour shortages.
Southland needed a better growing season beyond the next harvest to lighten the pressure on the feed market and prevent the situation from deteriorating.
Federated Farmers Southland Arable chairwoman Sonia Dillon said that, despite Southland farmers growing more wheat for stock, there was still a shortage of wheat, driving stock food prices much higher than usual.
“We’ve got quite a shortage in
Southland overall because of the drought we had, so the cupboards were pretty much empty at harvest last year,” she said.
Wheat shortages were having a significant impact on both milled wheat for human food products and on stock food prices in New Zealand.
Dillon said Southland wheat was mainly used for stock feed. But if port or rail options were made available, transport costs would be reduced and Southland could potentially become a milling wheat producer reducing reliance on overseas wheat.
Dillon thought it would be advantageous for farmers and the region if a milling solution was provided locally.
“Food-security-wise it would be a great idea for Southland to get into the milling market and have more inhouse and less exports.”
North Island millers had turned to the Australian grain market for supplies as it was cheaper to buy grain from Australia than ship it from the South Island.
Dillon said she struggled to understand how it was more economical to import grain from Australia than ship nationally.
At present grain transport between Southland and Canterbury costs