The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-10-18
Bemidji Housekeepers Asked
To Aid Potato Growers i
in Drive Now On 80 I
CONCERTED BUYING MOVE
NOW UP TO INDIVIDUALS
Farmers Whole Seasons w rk
Likely to be Total Loss If
Help is not Given H..

Bemidji housewives can perform u
great public service and housewives
in every home, in every city and town
and village in Minnesota can perform
great public service. -..'.s 2*-:''
Today, hundreds of thousands Of
bushels of potatoes are lying undug
in Minnesota fields. The farmers who
raised them are facing; the prospect
of complete loss of a whole seasons
labor Like other communities in
the state, Bemidji has started po-
tato buying campaign. The Bemidji
Civic and Commerce association and
the Beltrami County Farm Bureau
association are co-or dinating to help
relieve the farmers of this section
by making a broader home market
at once.
The Civir and Commerce asso-
citation is soliciting orders for pota-
toes at so cents a bushel considered
a very reasonable price to all parties
concerned, considering the present
market situation and the prospects
for market later in the season. The
orders will be filled by farmers in
this section of the state, through the
Farm Bureau, each farmer to deliver
a proportionate share of the entire
order.
The United State has produced
about 100000 bushels more than
the normal consumption of its popu-
lation. The effect Of the surplus
falls hardest on Minnesota, the largest
producing state with crop Of 49,
600, 900 bushels, and on North Dako-
ia, which produced a record breaking
crop of Is, 200, 900 bushels. I
The price offered farmers at many
shipping points is below the actual
cost of production. Observers say
that the price has probably hit rock
bottom, and that the housewife hard
ly can lose by buying now, and is
more apt to profit. a:a:, >2as u
Thousands of acres in Western
Minnesota and in T.; North Dakota,
where the paintings are so large that
hired help is necessary to harvest the
crop, may not be dug because the
price offered the farmer does not
seem to him enough to warrant the
cost Of digging, picking, grading and
hauling to market. T..
Tens of thousands of bushels of
potatoes which have been dug have
accumulated at shipping points and
on farms because of lack of freight
cars, and now are in danger of freez-
ing. Undug and frozen potatoes
eventually will reduce the supply and,
it is believed by observers cause the
price to go higher this winter.
Cold weather will prevent potato
shipping except in refrigerator cars
and real shortage of this equip
ment threatens to make the situation
still worse, unless large quantity
Of potato shipments can be moved
Immediately before winter sets in.
Potato jobbers, grocers, traffic ex-
perts and officials of the state de-
partment of agriculture agree that
only one thing can bring practical
relief to the thousands Of farmers
who face the loss Of their whole
seasons labor, and save Minnesota
from a cash loss which threatens to
run up into hundreds Of thousands
of dollars. That one thing is a con-
certed buying movement. The 'indi-
vidual housewife is the only person
who can start it. -
The department of agriculture is
appealing to farmers, in spite of their
Encouragement, to invest still more
money in their potato crop, to dig,
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