UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 594 
Contribution from the Bureau of Crop Estimates 
LEON M. ESTABROOK, Chief 
4l£P p ^U1» 
Washington, D. C. 
February 21, 1918 
GEOGRAPHY OF WHEAT PRICES. 
SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS AFFECTING FARM PRICES OF 
WHEAT IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
By L. B. Zapoleon. 
Division of Crop Records. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Significance of regional price differences 1 
Survey of geography of wheat prices 3 
Wheat versus corn and oats— price zones 
compared 4 
Principal causes underlying price differences. 4 
Sectional price ratios shifting 11 
Detail farm price map and local conditions . . 13 
Effect of markets on local farm price varia- 
tions 14 
Freight rates 16 
Page. 
Other price factors 19 
Summary: Price variations and attendant 
conditions 19 
Farm prices correlated with costs of produc- 
tion, by States and sections , 20 
Retrospective view, 1871 to 1915 24 
Trend of wheat production in relation to pop- 
ulation, by States and sections 32 
Appendix: Average farm prices of wheat, by 
counties, 1910-1914 34 
SIGNIFICANCE OF REGIONAL PRICE DIFFERENCES. 
Extreme geographic differences prevail in prices paid to farmers. 
Farm prices increase or decrease in well-defined directions, varying with each 
item of production. 
Character of the data employed; counties the basis of measurement. 
The prices paid to farmers for a given product vary so greatly 
throughout the United States, and the variations are so closely inter- 
woven with changing economic conditions as to indicate a field of 
research of practical value and economic interest. That wide differ- 
ences should be found throughout the country in the prices of certain 
perishable farm products is to be expected. But agricultural staples 
not perishable in character, and of general consumption, exhibit a like 
disparity; even when price differences due to grade or quality are 
relatively small, more than 100 per cent variation frequently obtains 
throughout producing regions of the CJnited States. Neighboring 
counties often show distinct differences in price. 
9578°— 18— Bull. 594 1 
