48 
BULLETIN 1480, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
after year. In a year of low production in certain parts of the coun- 
try, the usual movement of the crop from the farm to primary mar- 
kets may be reversed. When the winter wheat crop in Kansas is very 
short, spring wheat ma}^ be shipped into Kansas to take care of the 
local milling demand, and the usual price differentials between farm 
and market prices may be changed materially. 
The corn price in an Iowa county may be the primary-market price 
less the cost of handling and transportation to the primary market, 
say Chicago, during a year when a considerable surplus of corn is 
produced. The next year the crop may be small; farmers may be 
buying corn from each other and from near-by counties or States, as 
in 1924r-25; and the price at which local corn will be sold may be 
nearly as high or higher than the primary-market price. 
FARM PRICE OF POTATOES IN MAINE AND NEW YORK 
1908-1325 
CENTS 
PER 
BUSHEL 
350 
300 
250 
200 
• Farm Pries of Maine Potatoes 
■ Farm Price ofNe w York Po toto as 
JA.J.aJ.A.J.CLJ.A.J.O.J.A.J.O.JJ\-J.O.J.A.J.OJ.A.J.O.j.A.J.O.J.AJ.O.J.A.J.O.J.AJ.O.J.AJ.OJ.AJ.O.JAJ.aj.AJ.O.J.AJ. O.J.A.J.O.J.A.J.O.J.A.J.O.J.A.J.O.J. 
1908 '09 '10 'I! '12 "13 '14- '15 '16 '17 '18 '19 '20 '21 22 '23 '24- '25 '26 '27 
Fig. 8. — Farm prices of potatoes for Maine and for New York show plus correlations of 
0.923 in the pre-war period, 0.988 during the war and postwar inflation, and 0.S90 for 
the last few years. The relationship between potato prices in two surplus-producing 
States is not as close as that between wheat or cotton prices in two surplus-producing 
States 
There is an opportunity to compare the movements of farm prices 
and of primary-market prices when (1) the State as a whole may be 
considered as a surplus-producing region and (2) a large proportion 
of the product is marketed through primary markets year after year. 
Usually crops of cotton, wheat, flaxseed, and hogs in the heavy 
surplus-producing States fulfill both these requirements. 
IOWA HOG PRICES 
In view of the fact that about one-fourth of the hogs slaughtered 
under Federal inspection come from the State of Iowa and about 40 
per cent or more of Iowa hogs are marketed in Chicago and over 50 
per cent of the hogs marketed in Chicago come from Iowa, it would 
seem that the farm price of hogs in Iowa would be closely related to 
the average price of hogs on the Chicago market. 
