AGRICULTURAL SURVEYS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES

THE

HE BULLETINS of the Agricultural Surveys of Foreign Countries will contain an analysis of the agricultural situation in each country from the viewpoint of the potential demand for agricultural products by those countries whose production is not sufficient to meet their national requirements. The nature and extent of the competition from foreign producers that the farmers of America must meet in disposing of their surplus in foreign markets is thereby indicated. These surveys include a comparison between the pre-war and postwar trends in the agriculture of the countries as affected by the economic conditions, territorial changes, if any, and other factors in each country, brought about by the World War.

The bulletins of this series that have been published are:

Agricultural Survey of Europe: The Danube Basin-Part 1 (Dept. Bul. 1234).

Agricultural Survey of Europe: Germany (Dept. Bul. 1399).

Agricultural Survey of South America: Argentina and Paraguay (Dept. Bul. 1409).

OUR COMPETITIVE AGRICULTURE

Farming is a competitive business, local in the case of highly perishable fruits and vegetables, national and international in the case of products which can be transported, such as bread grains, meats, dairy products, cotton, and wool.

The United States is facing two important problems: (1) An adequate food supply for an ever-increasing population and (2) the utilization of her own agricultural resources and the maintenance of a high standard of living in her farm population in competition with other industries and with agriculture in other countries. The first is a problem of the future and will not become serious so long as agricultural competition with other countries is active. The second is a problem of immediate importance. To the extent that prices of agricultural products in this country are influenced by world supply and demand, the welfare and prosperity of 6,500,000 farm families in this country will be influenced by the surplus agricultural production of countries having cheaper land and cheaper labor. The

1 The statistics here presented were collected principally in Argentina. The agricultural statistics of the Argentine Government have in some cases undergone revision and the methods of collection are being reorganized. The figures as here given will not always check with previously published official figures. 1

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FIG. 1.-Argentina is wedge-shaped, broad at the north and tapering to a point at the south, extending from 22° to 52° south latitude. This range of latitude coupled with altitude differences gives to Argentina a great variety of climatic and other conditions

problem of maintaining the high purchasing power and the high standard of living of the American farmer in the face of low-cost foreign products and competition is exactly the same as that of the American laborer in the various industries. A realization of this fact has led the United States Department of Agriculture and agricultural leaders generally to pay more attention to the factors of agricultural production in foreign countries and to try to estimate and to forecast the extent of present and probable future agricultural competition.

Table 1 shows the rapid development of wheat exports from the six principal surplus-producing countries in the past 65 years. Particularly significant are the increases in exports from the United States from the close of the Civil War to the end of the nineteenth century and the corresponding increases in exports from the newer agricultural countries-Canada, Australia, and Argentina-from 1890 to the years following the close of the World War.

TABLE 1.-Wheat, including flour: Exports from the principal exporting countries, five-year average, 1860-1924, and for fiscal year 1925

1 Prior to July, 1880, wheat flour converted to grain on the basis that 1 barrel of flour equals the product of 5 bushels of wheat. Beginning July, 1880, flour converted to grain with basis that 1 barrel flour equals the product of 41⁄2 bushels of wheat.

Year ending December 31 previous to 1915.

Three-year average.

Two-year average.

Four-year average.

• Russia in Europe only prior to 1883. Includes rye flour prior to 1883. 71924 only.

Compiled from: United States-1860-1918-Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States. 1840-1918. 1918-1925-Monthly Summary of Foreign Commerce of the United States. June issues, 1919, 1925. Canada-1870-1889-Trade and Commerce, 1900, pp. 440-443. 1890-1925-Monthly Report of Trade of Canada, March issues, 1890-1925. Australia-1901-1910-Official Yearbook of Australia, 1901-1910, p. 371. 1911-1924-Australian Statistics of Oversea Imports and Exports and Customs and Excise Revenue. British India-1863-1872-Statistical Abstract Relating to British India from 1862-1871. 1873-1881-Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance of the United States, January-June, 1898, p. 1438. 1882-1896-World's Markets for American Products, Bul. 508, Cir. 5-11, p. 6. 1897-1925-Trade by Land of British India with Foreign Countries, March issues, 1897-1925-and Sea-bourne Trade of British India with the British Empire and Foreign Countries, March issues, 1897-1925. Argentina, 1876-1879-Senate Ex. Doc. No. 91, 53d Congress, 2d session, pp. 35 and 36. 1880-1890-World's Markets for American Products, Buls. 5-8, Cirs. 5-11, p. 5. 1891-1906--Argentine Yearbook, 1914, p. 227. 1907-1914-Anuario de la Direccion General de Estadistica. 1915-1923-Annuario del Comercio Exterior, 1915-1923. 1924-Estadistica Agro-Pecuaria-Boletin Mensual de December, 1924. Russia-1876-1879-Senate Ex. Doc. No. 91, 53d Congress, 2d session, p. 12-14. 1871-1882-Monthly Summary of Finance and Commerce, United States, January-June, 1898, p. 1428. 1883-1906-U. S. Dept. Agr. Bul. No. 69, European Grain Grade, p. 48. 1906-1916-Reports of Foreign Trade of Russia over European and Asiatic Frontiers. 1924 and 1925-Broomhalls' Corn Trade News.