Agricultural commodities may be divided into three classes, depending upon the area which controls the price of the commodity, as follows: (a) price units world-wide, as wheat, cotton, pork; (b) price units local to large districts—products too bulky to ship long distances—such as hay, potatoes and apples; (c) price units local to relatively small areas, such as strawberries and green vegetables. It is obvious that the larger the area which controls the price, the more constant will be the demand.
OBJECTIONS TO GRAIN FARMING
(1) It exhausts the soil. About two-thirds of the wheat of the United States is consumed outside the county in which it is raised.
(2) It requires a large quantity of land to produce a competence. Land must be low in price, or the interest on the money invested in the land will consume the profits. The relation of crop to income is suggested by comparing the gross returns from an acre of potatoes or tobacco with an acre of maize. The average gross income during a decade was, from an acre of maize, $9.50; an acre of potatoes, $38; and from an acre of tobacco, $61.50.
(3) Only such part of the land as is suited to tillage can be used.
(4) The marketing of cereals requires the transportation of bulky products. Hay is handicapped much more seriously. The distance a product can be shipped depends somewhat on the price per pound received for it. If it costs one cent a pound to ship maize to a grain market, obviously it cannot be transported without loss when it brings only 50 cents a bushel. On the other hand, two cents a pound may easily be paid for shipping butter which is worth 25 cents a pound. The transportation of $2,000 worth of maize to a railway station ten miles distant is a laborious and expensive operation, but when this same maize is turned into beef or pork, it will transport itself to the station with comparatively little trouble. Notwithstanding the excellent transportation facilities which the farmers of the United States enjoy, 80% of the maize is consumed in the county in which it is raised. Cereal production demands better transportation facilities than cotton farming, tobacco growing or the rearing of domestic animals.
(5) Capital must lie idle much of the time. The self-binding harvester or the hay rake is only used a few weeks, or perhaps more often only a few days, each year. A cream separator or a churn may be used every day in the year. In the first instance, there is not only interest on unemployed capital, but the capital is actually deteriorating through nonuse.
(6) The production of hay and grain does not give continuous employment. The slightest consideration of the following table must show that unless live stock is kept, there are considerable periods of the year in which very little labor is required, while at other times considerable work is necessary to prevent loss.
TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE ACREAGE PER
FARM OF PRINCIPAL CROPS.