Evening star., 1932-07-12
NEW GRAIN YIELD
| PROMISES PROFITS
Corn Belt and Spring Wheat
Territory of Northwest
to Benefit.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
CHICAGO, July 12.-There Is optim.
ism to be read into the Government
crop report today SO far as it affects
the corn belt and the Spring wheat ter.
ritory of the Northwest.
Abundant corn, ! indicated bys the
prospect of a crop totaling 1896 900 O0(
bushels, assures plentiful and chear
feed for live stock. Eighty per cent OF
| this country's corn production Is FED
and marketed on the hoof, suggesting
real profit, provided present hog and
! cattle prices prevail through the Fall
| and Winter.
At the same time, big Spring wheat
yield, coming after year Of crop dis
| aster in the Northwest, means feed anc
cash income for that territory. A durum
wheat crop of 55,0000 600 bushels is es-
| timated, compared with 1885, 900 pro-
/ duced a year ago. with other Spring
wheat totaling $50 900, 900 bushels, CON-
pared with 86,411 900 bushels harvested
in 1881.
. High Premiums Paid.
Owing to the short crop. high pre-
miums have been paid during the past
year for many grades of Spring wheat
and producers this season expect to get
higher than the prevailing futures
| price for their crop. This may not
mean much profit, but it promises a
cheerful outlook when contrasted with
| the crop failure and the low prices OF
! last year. Likewise, the Government
estimate indicates that until now there
| is little apprehension over possible dam
age from a grasshopper invasion-the
threat of which is constantly diminish
ing the Spring wheat States.
Winter wheat is to be in smaller sup
| ply this year, according to the Gov
ernment estimate of $4,000, ,000-
| bushel harvest compared with the rec
| ord crop of 787,OOO,000 bushels last year.
| but there is far from failure in the
vast Southwest grain belt. Production
| of all grains is set at 100000 900 BUSH
els compared with 4,793,000,000 bushels
produced in 1891 guaranteeing the coun-
| try against any shortage of food.
It is in relation to the live stock sit
| uation that the present crop report is
| being read today. AT existing prices for
hogs, above IS. utilizing the old yard
stick of comparative value. it should be
profitable to feed with 50-centS-a-bu
corn The price of corn actually is 80
| cents. so hogs fattened and sold today
return a handsome profit to the pro-
| ducer.
Cattle Bring Good Return.
Similarly. cattle finished on corn Of
present value, assure the raiser a good
return above his costs. At 940 top
price steers are considerably above the
level that prevailed year ago.
The catch lies in the fact that re-
Gently prices of hogs and steers were so
low that 1t scarcely paid producers to
put finish on their stock. An actual
shortage Of good grade animals de-
veloped and as prices advanced this
shortage was accentuated by a holding
policy on the part Of producers. who
wanted to put more weight on their
stuff before offering it. Whether pres
ent prices will prevail in the Fall when
new crop hogs reach the market is a
question that greatly interests the corn
belt.
A paper increase in live stock values
of well over s300000,000 has occurred
during recent weeks The upturn in
| the case of hogs and cattle has been
sensational With plentiful feed. at
cheap prices, there is profit in sight for
the corn belt.
At the same time prices Of dairy
products have been rising So that the
| farm country feels better today than at
any time in over a year.
tCopyright, 1922