The Pittsburgh Press (February 11, 1946)
Background of news –
The wheat situation
By Bertram Benedict
In the present situation in world supplies and prices of food stuffs, wheat and flour are the best and cheapest means of preventing starvation. It isn’t a matter of providing a balanced diet. It’s a matter of keeping men, women, and children alive, and for that, bread is the “staff of life” in more than advertising.
The stocks of wheat in the United States on January 1, 1946, according to the Department of Agriculture, were lower by 32 percent than on January 1, 1945, and lower by 23 percent than the average on January 1 in 1935-1944. And this despite an all-time record production in 1945 estimated at 1,123,000,000 bushels.
The 1944 production of 1,042,000,000 bushels also had broken the existing record. Only once before, in 1915, had production gone over a billion bushels.
Three factors account primarily for the low stocks on hand despite the high production: (1) Large exports to meet foreign needs; (2) High industrial consumption, including use for alcohol; (3) Extensive use for feeding cattle and hogs. The general agricultural price situation and the corn situation have made it more profitable for many farmers to feed their grain than to sell it.
The large consumption of grain per capita in the armed forces may also be cited.
U.S. production is up
The United States wheat production is the only one that is up among the principal wheat producing countries. In 1935-39, the United States and Canada accounted for about 50 percent of all wheat and flour in world export trade. In 1945-6, the two countries account for about 80 percent. And the 1945 crop in Canada, although about the pre-war average, was 30 percent below the Canadian production in 1944.
A drought last year reduced wheat production in Southern Europe, in many parts of the Balkans, and in Northern Africa, which used to export wheat to Europe, but is now on an import basis. Drought conditions lowered 1944-45 production also in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in Australia and Argentina. In Argentina a fuel shortage is causing much grain to be burned for fuel.
The worldwide demand for wheat and flour has been heightened by the breakdown of rice production in Southeastern Asia, as a result of the Japanese occupation. Wheat must replace rice temporarily in many parts of Asia, including the Philippines, insofar as it will be used by rice-eaters.
And the demand for wheat and wheat products has been heightened by the decrease in the potato crop, especially in France, Poland and Central Europe generally.
Transportation lacking
In Europe wheat is needed not only because of the war devastation but also because of the collapse of internal transportation. In some countries, such as Yugoslavia, a surplus of wheat is reported in some regions along with a deficiency in other regions, but there are few facilities for shipment from the former to the latter.
All over Europe, farm machinery has broken down, replacement parts are lacking, fuel oil is scarce. There is a dearth also of fertilizer.
And among the millions of dispossessed persons in Europe are many who used to produce wheat, now can only consume it.