Brimming Bins

Canadian farmers, contentedly watching another good crop of wheat ripen on the prairies, heard disquieting news. The Bureau of Statistics reported last week that the carryover from previous wheat crops stood at 614,500,000 bu. on June 1--up one-third from last year, and just about the equivalent of one full year's normal production.

The basic trouble was a change in the world market, which normally takes two-thirds of Canada's wheat. Some big importing countries, notably West Germany and Spain, produced more grain at home last year and bought less abroad. Argentina, recovering dramatically from a 1951-52 crop failure, sold aggressively to some of Canada's old South American customers, and pushed her share of the world market up from 2.8% to 17.9%. Canada's exports were off 30%.

While the Wheat Board's June price cut (from $1.82 to $1.72 a bushel) brought no visible rush of buyers to Canada, it helped land one big order. Britain contracted to buy 10 million bu. of wheat, to be shipped through the port of Churchill this summer. But Canada's farmers, still trying to unload their 1953 wheat crop in a glutted market, will need bigger bins at home to hold their grain when the new harvest begins next month.

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