Friday, March 29, 2024

Get in quick for grain supplies

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Better than average 2017 harvest results have boosted optimism for arable farmers looking forward to better times ahead.
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A wet harvest and a period of market uncertainty had challenged cropping farmers but 2017 harvest yields coming in above average indicated a return to better fortunes for New Zealand’s 2700 arable farmers, Federated Farmers arable chairman Guy Wigley said.

“Looking ahead, the industry can take heart from this year’s final yields.

“The weather patterns were challenging but wheat yields were up 12% and barley 8% while both milling and feed oats each returned 10% increases,” Wigley said.

There was also healthy interest from feed mills and those looking for animal feed.

“This places the industry in good shape as preparation for the 2018 harvest gets under way.”

Spring planting was expected to begin in North and Mid Canterbury over the next month and in September further south, if sodden ground dried out.

Most milling and feed wheat had been planted with only a third of barley sown.

The Arable Industry Marketing Initiative (AIMI) survey indicated confidence was high for future sowing with prediction of a 13% increase for the 2018 harvest.

The dairy industry revival was also a factor with arable farmers returning to staple crops to meet demand.

While there was reasonable tonnage of feed barley still available Wigley said those in the market should be taking steps to secure grain before that surplus ran out.

“If you want to secure quality domestically produced, traceable grain then 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.

AgriHQ grain analysts reported stocks of both feed wheat and barley had declined significantly over the past three months with traders and buyers struggling to get hold of any barley.

The dairy sector typically went more for barley than wheat and dairy farmers had been buying more feed in recent weeks with barley replacing maize in the North Island.

Feed barley area was expected to total 52,220 hectares in the coming season, up 51% on that harvested in 2017.

While that appeared to be a rather big jump, it was historically more in line with the area that was traditionally sown to barley.

The Grain Insight report suggested barley was the backstop for many arable farmers and there didn’t seem to be many options for other crops so arable farmers would plant barley.

With dairy farmers’ income set to improve this season, cropping farmers would feel more comfortable growing barley reasonably confident they would be able to sell it.

Meantime, global grain markets corrected over the past month with offshore wheat markets dropping to values not seen since June.

A combination of improving weather and forecasts around the world had been the main influence on those markets.

Maize trials data ready

The latest maize hybrid trials data should help growers as the 2017-2018 planting season kicked off next month, Plant Breeding and Research Association (PBRA) general manager Thomas Chin said.

The national maize performance trials, jointly run by PBRA and the Foundation for Arable Research, evaluated dozens of grain and silage hybrids on how they performed in different growing environments.

 This year’s report for the first time included results from multiple sites and seasons, meaning some hybrid results were presented as averages from three seasons and up to eight separate trials.

The data collected this year should always be compared to the statistical averages for each region to ensure the variety that was of interest was consistent in its performance, Chin said.

The 2017 maize silage harvest had an estimated total tonnage of 913,000 tonnes DM, which, because of lower yields, was down 7% compared to last season’s harvest.

Annually about 70,000ha of maize was sown throughout the country, the top three maize production regions being Waikato, East Coast and the lower North Island.

MORE: Results from the third-year maize trials can be read at www.far.org.nz

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