FARMING IN AMERICA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19041, 11 December 1923, Page 7

FARMING IN AMERICA

A GRAVE OUTLOOK, ALTERATION OF METHODS URGENT, Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyrigit WASHINGTON, December 9. (Received Dee. 10, at 8 p.m.) The annual report of Mr H. C. Wallace (Secretary of Agriculture) stresses the serious condition of the farmers of the United States, who, it says, arc faced with a 25 per cent, increase in taxation in three years and a rapidly disappearing foreign market, and who must radically alter their xirescnt methods of procedure. Mr Wallace declared that in 15 wheat and maize-growing States 81 per cent, of the farmers were compelled to surrender their properties through bankruptcy, while 15 per cent, were actually bankrupt, but were retaining their properties through the leniency of their creditors. The report stressed the necessity for the diversification of crops by the wheat farmers, and indicated that the wheat areas were rapidly being decreased. It added: “The producers of crops which are mainly consumed domestically have succeeded in re-adjusting themselves to present conditions. The tariff gave the farmers the necessary protection, but the depreciated currencies have limited foreign purchases.”—A. and N.Z. Cable.