The current situation and policies of the New Zealand cereals sector

In New Zealand's agricultural sector, the dominant position of pastoral enterprises has resulted in relatively little importance being attached to the production of arable crops. At times of strong demand and remunerative prices for milk, sheepmeat, beef and wool, the comparative advantage of New Zealand producers of these products over those in other countries has justified the general lack of any strong concern for the development of the arable sector. When, however, the market for livestock and livestock products is weak, the further expansion of other farm products, including cereals, becomes a much more attractive proposition. It is not perhaps always appreciated that the proportion of total agricultural land in New Zealand devoted to cereal production is very small. Over the past decade, the area under cereals has fluctuated around 200,000 ha with the trend over these years being slowly downwards, from an average of 210,000 ha during the five year period 1973-77 to an average of 190,000 over the period 1979-83 (although the 1983-84 out turn has shown a sharp reversal of this trend). This area under cereals represents less than one per cent of the total agricultural land in the country, although the quality of the land involved is above that for the country as a whole. Cereals account for less than ten per cent of the proportion of the 2.5m hectares of land of high actual or potential value for the production of food. This paper is concerned with the production and utilisation of the four cereals produced commercially in New Zealand - wheat, barley, oats and maize, and the official policies which influence them