Economics of Bread

Horowhenua Chronicle, 12 October 1915, Page 2

Economics of Bread

LECTURE BY Dlt HJLLGMDORF. Last week at a, meeting of +he Philosophical Institute, Dr F. W. 'Hilgendorf, of the Lincoln Agricultural College, delivered an address on the •"Economics of Bread." i)r Hilgeudorf dealt firstly with the cost of production of wheat to the Tanner, then with the process of milling, and finally with the baking and distribution of the bread l'i the course of his remarks he touched on the causes of tlie rise and fall in the prices of wheat and Hour, and showed some interesting graphs and tahles h> illustrate the parallelism that exists between yields and prices. Considering all the factors ol production, he said, it co.st at tho present time about £(j to grow, harvest and thresh one acre of wheat. This meant that with wheat at the average price of 3s fd per bushel, Ihc farmer would require to grow 30 bushels to the acre to pay expenses. An average crop of wheat yielded 45 bushels to the acre, leaving a profit mre of nine ■biKsholfi to tho acre. "'?r\h.> v.ield h'iis raised to -17 uie crop ivould be increased cent, but the profit to tho farmer uouild increa.se by 22 per cent. Tt was therefore clear that a comparatively small increase in the yield per acre meant a large increase in profits to the farmer. The knowlodge of this fact had prompted Mr Alexander, the principal of the Lincoln Agricultural College, to ask the speaker to undertake the task of experimenting with 'wheats for the purpose not only of increasing the average yield but also of aisee-rtnining übe varieties most suitable for New Zealand's peculiar climatic conditions. Tho method adopted by the speaker in hi.s experiments was one of siinplo selec-. tion From a crop of wheat he would take fifty or one hundred of (.ho Ktromrest and best heads, and to make Mire that these heads wore prolific he would take the grains from each head and sow them separately in vows,. If one row yielded better than the others under the same conditions it would probably havo an inborn advantage. Referring to the price of wheat Dv Ililgeudorf said that there was a prevalent, idea that war raised the price of wheat. • This indeed was perfectly true in the past but it had lost much of its application at the present day. The sudden rise in the price! mf wheat on the outbreak of the great European War was due to the shortage caused by the locking np ol the Russian export supply of wheat. The war haJ descended suddenly on t] L o_world and the countries outside ol Europe had no time to adjust themselves to thn changed order of firings. \/ow, however, they Avere meeting every coniinjiency with tho result that wheat bad fallen from i|. s abnormal high figure in Britain io about 5s per bushel. Once the Dardanelles were forced and' the Ru>sian export trade renewed the bottom would fall out of the market. Touching on the high price of wheat which prevailed in the Dominion until -' lew month.-, ago, x> r ill i gent! <"■'. painted out that in years oi over production prices in Aow Zealand Avoru welded by English prices. In years jl under production prices were generally

.iotermiiied by Australian yields. in Ins opinoin the drought in Australia cwiipJed wiili under production in Acw Zealand was the cause 01 the high price oi wiieat in the JJoiimuon m I'Jli. i'ej-hapft sixpence per mishel increase might, be ascribed directly to die war.

■ Dealing uiL.li the profits made by liio iarmor, tlio miller and tho bakor, Dv liiigendort tsaid that tlio xiiiLlor was of. ion n roiigtully accused ui' making Jingo prolits, Jjul with wheal ait, suy, ;<j. id a bushel, m forty bushels tlio farmer made over 3D per ueiil piolit, tlio miller only a little over il) per cent, and the baker ae much ar uU per cent. \\'heu wheat \va.s dear, however, at, say, us 3u a bushel, Wio farmer's prolits would be 11) per cent, and the baker's prolits would bo -H pel , ceil i>. Thus when wheat wais dear tlio baker's profits were not nearly an great as when wheat was cheap. At the conclusion oi lii.s addmss lTt Hilgciidorf was asked a nuiuhor ot questions, and was accorded a vot<j ol' thanks for his interesting lecture.—Ohriot- ■ elnirch Star.