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WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW AND FARM OUTLOOK 



By Oren L. Whalln 

 . Associate Professor of Agricultural Extension 



(Prepared December 2?) 



(Hl^^illghs of the Weekly Market Review and Farm Outlook are broadcast each Friday • 

 from 12:U8 to 12:55 p.m., as part of the Illlnjois Farm Hour, Station WILL, 58O kilo- 

 cycles.) 



Commodity Prices at Chicago 



Cash 



Wheat (No. 2 red) 

 Com (No. 2 yellov) 

 Oats (No. 2 white) 

 Butter (92 score) 

 Eggs (current receipts) 

 Hogs (top price paid) 

 Cattle (%ap price paid) 

 Hog-corn ratio, Chicago, 

 December 22 



Wednesday 

 December 26, 19^5 



May futures 



(close) 

 Week ago Wednesday Week ago 



$ 1.79** 



1.18 1/2** 



.82» 



M* 



.U15 



lU.85» 



18.00* 



' 12.5 



$ 1.79** $1.80 l/2» $1.80 l/2» 



1.18 l/2*» 1.18 l/2» 1.18 l/2» 

 .82** .77 1/2-5/8 .76 5/8 

 M* 



lU.85* 

 18,00* 



12.5 



♦Ceiling prices. ; - . 



♦♦Nominal. No cash sales. 



The weather slowed up market receipts for the week. Sheep advanced in price 

 and all classes of hogs remained strong. All classes of cattle closed the week down 

 from a week earlier sane as much as a dollar a hundredweight. All grain prices re- 

 mained strong at or near ceiling levels. 



Pig crop . The total I9U5 pig crop is now reported as practically the same 

 as for 19*^^ but 29 percent below that for 19'f3. In spite of the smaller 19^5 spring 

 pig crop the number of hogs over six months old on farms December 1, 19U5,was about 

 the same as a year earlier. Indications point to a four percent increase in sows to 

 farrow in the spring of 19l^6 as compared with the spring of 19^5. 



19^ outlook and goals . Despite reconversion problems in industry, farmers 

 can look forward in the coming year to a strong demand, at good prices, for agricul- 

 tural products because of large wartime savings, removal of most wartime restrictlonjB, 

 prospective tax reductions, and a high level of exports and foreign relief shipments 

 according to Howard R. Tolley, chief, USiDA Bureau of Agricultural Economics. He says 

 that farm prices in 19^ may be slightly below the record 19'<'5 levels, but the^ are 

 expected to assure farmers a net income double the 1955-39 average and higher than 

 any year prior to 19^3 • Farmers generally are emerging from the war with an agricul- 

 tural plant in much better conditions than after World War I. 



Secretary of Agriculture Clinton P. Anderson stated in releasing tentative 

 19U6 national goals that the 19^6 goals indicate a pattern of production which pro- 

 vides high output of commodities for which wartime demand is continuing, and shifts 

 toward peacetime levels for others. Recognition was given to the need for increased 

 conservation of our soil resources. Secretary Anderson emphasized that the 19*^6 goals 

 represent the actual desired production. Producing during peacetime calls for more ^ 

 careful planning, so that we may have the right things in the right amounts. 



