UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



1 BULLETIN No. 696 



Contribntion from the Bureau of Crop Estimates 

 LEON M, ESTABROOK, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



September 26, 1918 



GEOGRAPHICAL PHASES OF FARM PRICES: CORN. 



By L. B. Zapoleon, 

 Division of Crop Records. 



CONTENTS. 



Scope of subject outlined 1 



Data employed and method of treatment 2 



Survey of broad regional differences in corn 



prices 3 



Price levels and commercial movement of 



corn 4 



Predominant trade routes and price levels, 



and local variation 6 



General features of corn distribution 7 



Production, consumption, and commerce, 



by States and sections 12 



Detail price map and local price factors IS 



Page. 



City and farm consumption contrasted 19 



Farm consumption 19 



Urban markets 23 



Freight rates 24, 



Costs of production and farm prices, geo- 

 graphic differences 25 



Characteristics of price zones 30 



Retrospective ^ie■w of prices and price [ac- 

 tors, 1871 to 1915 31 



Summary 42 



Appendix: Average farm prices of corn, by 



counties, 1910-1914 45 



SCOPE OF SUBJECT OUTLINED. 



Yields to tlie acre are a measure of physical limitations, and producers' 

 prices reflect commercial factors. 



Analysis of extreme sectional differences in prices paid to farmers dis- 

 closes zones of uniformly high or low prices, between which prices 

 graduate. This price advantage or disadvantage varies witli each 

 product. 



The geography of farm prices constitutes a controlling element in local 

 types of agriculture. 



In the foreground of the present-day problems are those having 

 to do with the prices of food products. The importance of geo- 

 graphic factors in producers' and consumers' prices is not apparent 

 in the middle ground represented by average prices and price levels, 

 for great differences usually prevail in the prices of a specific 

 product in various sections of the country. The trend of this local 

 variation differs for each commodity. The lowest wheat prices, 



55985°— 18— Bull. 696 1 



