Excerpt from Geography of Wheat Prices: Summary of Conditions Affecting Farm Prices of Wheat in Different Parts of the United States

Two sets of factors are Concerned in producing variations in farm or p'roducers price. One set has-to do with the general price level of a given product, the other set is regional m its effect and divides the United States into sections according to price disparities. Cli matic changes (affecting the outcome of the harvest), the outbreak of war, changes in the purchasing value of money, and other factors produce price changes that are nation-wide in extent. But differ ences in freight rates and transportation facilities, proximity to or remoteness from consuming territories, and Other factors in the relationship of local to general distributive conditions, though affect ing smaller areas, are equally potent and more stable in their m fluence. The latter class of factors - those dividing the United States into zones according to the price paid farmers for a given product - presents a field that is only partially developed.

Obviously farm price is a potent factor in adjustments of agricul tural production. Just as climatic limitations on agriculture are Shown on maps, so do farm prices, on sufficiently detailed maps, align themselves into zones, since price variations increase or decrease in well-defined directions. But this local price advantage or disad vantage varies with each product, according to its characteristics and commercial movement, the extent and regularity of zones having equal price figures change with each crop, and so also do the direction and rate of increase. Thus, southern farmers, raising varieties of wheat mostly softer than those of the North and West, receive on an average up to 60 cents per bushel more. The lowest wheat prices occur in regions marked by high prices of corn. Eastern farmers receive decidedly higher price averages for bulky commodities, such as hay, than for cereals. Mirch irregularity occurs in the prices of products wherein local consumption is important, such as corn or vegetables; greater stability, however, prevails in prices of wheat and oats. Within each State there is usually a variation of at least 20 cents per bushel' in corn prices, which is about the cost of sending corn from Chicago to Liverpool, under normal conditions.

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