6 BULLETIX 755, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION, AND MARKETINGS*, BY STATES AND 
SECTIONS. 
An idea of the relation of production to consumption, surplus and 
deficiency in each State and section, and the direction of the trade 
currents may be gained from Table 2. 
It will be noted that three-fourths of the national oat crops of 
1911-1915 were produced within the two divisions comprising the 
North Central States, which contain but 17 per cent of the total land 
area. This area embraces the regions of lowest farm price. It is the 
greatest grain and live-stock producing region, and most of the oats 
raised is consumed locally. However, the fraction of the crop which 
moves from this section constitutes the bulk of the commercial crop 
in the United States. 
" Shipments out of counties where grown" in Table 2 may be said 
as a rule to represent the fraction which enters commercial channels, 
the rest of the crop remaining for local consumption. 
In the census report for the year 1909, the sales of oats from farms 
were reported as 32.7 per cent of production. In the same year 
shipments out of counties where grown amounted to 25.9 per cent. 
The difference, 6.8 per cent of the crop, would appear to constitute 
the local sales. 
Nearly 84 per cent of all the oats entering general trade channels 
originates within the North Central States. Yet this 84 per cent of 
the total commercial oats constitutes only a third of the production 
of this region, the remaining two-thirds being consumed on the farms 
where grown. The oat crop of the Pacific Northwest, with that of 
adjacent territory, enters normally into a distinct trade westward, 
the surplus over domestic needs being exported via the Pacific. If 
from the total commercial oats the figures for the far Western States 
be deducted, the concentration of production in the North Central 
States becomes still more pronounced compared with the rest of the 
country. The surplus from this' north central section evidently 
supplements deficient production in other regions east of the Rocky 
Mountains and furnishes the bulk of the export oats. All other 
sections produce less than requirements, although some small areas 
therein produce surpluses. Details are given in Table 2. 
LOCAL PRICE FACTORS. 
THE GENERAL PRICE TREND AND LOCAL VARIATIONS. 
Map 2, showing geographic differences in the farm price of oats, is 
designed to show local variations in the general price zones. It is 
based upon the same data as Map 1, except that a 5-cent unit has 
been used to throw into relief local deviations and minor counter- 
currents to the general drift of the price movement. The basic 
figures and an explanation as to methods are given in the appendix 
(pp. 21-28). 
