The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-02-16
MONEY L N SPUDS
Many Farmers Holding for ADJ
vance in Price; the Acreage
Will be Increased An
other Year.


The importation of large mum.
bers Of potatoes, mainly from Ire.
land, Scotland and England, the
last few months has raised ques.
ton in many farmers minds con.
corning the late winter and early
spring prices on domestic potatoes
says the Northwest Farmstead
Each year a large proportion of
potatoes grown in the United
States are held in pits and ware.
houses and worked out as the mar
ket quotations rise and fall, or as
demand seems to require. The po.
to season opened with low prices
due to the heavy marketing
Of southern potatoes just as the
late fall and winter crops were in
condition to be sold. However,
the market hardened later, and
farmers and dealers began to real
ize the crop was short. Prices ad-
vanced gradually until for the last
few months the farmer holding
potatoes has been able to obtain
a very lucrative price. Since the
first Of this year the market for
potatoes both east and west has
been firm, with arrivals compara-
lively small The heavy storms
and severe cold waves caused light
marketing through inability to
get to stations.
Farmers who have followed the
reports on markets and general
potato conditions throughout the
United States have been led up to
a point where they are asking
themselves whether it will be to
their advantage to hold or sell,
whether imports will be so
heavy as to break the market and
whether after the subsiding Of the
storms and the arrival of warmer
temperature, the influx of potatoes
to distributing points will not be
such that farmers generally will
begin to feel that bird in the
hand was worth two in the bush.
Total imports of potatoes into
the United States the past decade
aggregated 22,845, 900 bushels,
valued at $11 100000 or about 48
cents a bushel. Valuation is has,
ed upon the wholesale market
price in the countries from which
exported, and does not include
freight or duty the later Is cents
a bushel of 60 pounds.
Exports Of potatoes from the
United States during the same de-
cade amounted to 100000 bush
els at valuation of $8,413,000, or
an average Of II cents per bushel.
This would show that the value
of imported potatoes per bushel
is not much more than half as
much as the value of exported pro-
duet, this during years when ex-
ports Of potatoes from the United
States have been heavy, when of
course the American crop is
large.
During the last 10 years II
cents a bushel has been realized
by shippers to foreign points. On
the other hand, during the past 10
years, when the American crop
was small and potatoes were i'm
ported in large numbers, the
average value Of potatoes as they
left foreign ports was 48 cents.
Hundreds of thousand of dollars
are paid in duty on potatoes bad
ly needed during the time the
crop failure are obliged to buy
potatoes on the home market.
This fact has been demonstrated
the past year.
Since the shortage of tubers,
prices have been considered too
low. The first of this year, that
is, Jan. LIST, 1912, total deficiency
of 1OO, 900, 900 bushels or more was
named as nominal guess. Three
years ago we imported potatoes
from Canada. This winter Can
ada is importing from the United
States. The largest amount of
potatoes imported into the United
States was in 1908, when better
than 100000 bushels came into
our ports. According to some
estimates, this figure may be ex-
ceeded during the recent season.
The sources from which the
United States draws potatoes
chiefly are Canada, Mexico and
Bermuda, Great Britain, Ger.
many and France. In recent
years small quantities have been
brought from China, Australia
and the Canary Islands. The coun.
tries to which America ships po.
tatoes are Cuba, Canada, Panama
and in lesser quantities to the
II o<bor Toptro1 Arnor;oor c%o+oe