File No. 811.50/44
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Switzerland ( Wilson )
1089. Your 1875, October 17.1 Department of Agriculture reports cereal situation as follows:
The 1917 wheat crop of the United States was estimated by this Department on October 1 to be about 660,000,000 bushels, which is 20,000,000 bushels more than the 1916 crop. The estimated surplus available for export is approximately 78,000,000 bushels, or about two and one-third million tons of 2,000 pounds. In addition to wheat, it is estimated that the United States will have a surplus over its own requirements of 481,000,000 bushels of corn, or nearly thirteen and a half million tons; 327,000,000 bushels of oats, or about five and one-fourth million tons; 72,000,000 bushels of barley, or one and three-fourths million tons; 24,000,000 bushels of rye, or two-thirds of a million tons; and large surpluses of other cereals and beans. The United States will therefore have a total surplus of the five cereals named available for export of approximately 982,000,000 bushels, or about twenty-three and one-half million tons of 2,000 pounds. This quantity is more than double the total average prewar [Page 659] imports of all Allied and neutral countries of Europe combined. Considerable stocks of wheat and other cereals will also be available for export from Canada, Australia, Argentina and India.
You are authorized to make these figures public, the manner of doing so being left to your discretion.
- Not printed.↩