andMr. McQuillan asked the Minister for Agriculture if in view of the perennial conflict of views between the farmers' representatives, his Department and the millers on the subject of the millability of native wheat, he will consider setting up a joint board representative of all three interests for the purpose of investigating the possibility of establishing a more precise definition or test for native wheat millability and to ensure that the growers will have a more authoritative say in the determination of any such definition or test.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Native Wheat Millability.
31.
The definition of millable wheat has been a bone of contention for many years. When the harvest is good there is no problem, but seasons such as 1958 and 1960 underline the differences between the views of the millers and the growers. The millability of native wheat in such years turns very largely on the proportion which is included in the grist. The fact of the matter is that wheat can be regarded as millable only if the quality of the flour and bread it produces is acceptable to the consumers. In these circumstances I do not think that any useful purpose would be served in setting up a joint board as suggested by the Deputies.
Is it not a fact that when wheat is brought to X mill very often it is rejected and when the same wheat is brought to Y mill it is accepted as millable there? Can the Minister reconcile that for the farming community who are being sent from Billy to Jack with that wheat?
In both the years I have mentioned the growers of wheat suffered no loss because of the quality of the wheat produced but the question of determining that matter for the purpose of paying the growers of wheat and using the wheat so purchased is an entirely different matter.
Will the Minister permit this warfare to go on every year?
As far as I know it is not a matter of warfare at all. The growers have been paid on the basis of the Wheat Orders.
The Minister should ask the Deputies in his own Party.
I am quite sure that what I am saying is correct. The growers of wheat have been paid for their crop on the basis of the Wheat Orders. I have said in reply to the Deputy's question that the millability of the wheat depends largely upon the percentage which is used in the grist. No matter what body you set up and no matter how you determine in advance the question of what is millable and what is not millable, everything depends on the acceptability of the end product to the consuming public.
Is it not a fact that a committee such as I have suggested exists in Sweden and works very satisfactorily?
There are different standards in Sweden. Some countries have the same standards as we have, for instance, Britain. However, no matter what country you go to, you will find that, if the circumstances are more or less what we experience, there is no easy solution from year to year for the determination of millability.
Is it not a fact that the determination of millability varies from mill to mill? Can that difficulty be overcome?
That is not so.
It is quite so.