National Affairs: Where Is the Wheat?

Last year the U.S. had harvested a record-smashing 1,123,000,000 bushels of wheat. Where had it gone?

Some of it had gone into an unprecedented national consumption. Some had gone abroad—194,000,000 bushels in the last half of 1945.

But the nub of the present U.S. problem was the fact that canny U.S. farmers often hold grain off the market when they figure that trouble or higher prices are brewing. By the best guesstimate of the grain trade, about 175,000,000 bushels of wheat were held on farms last week.

The farmer holds back for a variety of reasons, all economically sound from his point of view....

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!