The Oil Drum

Found two Time Articles.

One from June 42, the second from May 43.

What a difference a year makes

From June 42:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,773291,00.html

"In 1943, therefore, the U.S. Government is likely to pay for another bumper wheat crop it does not need and cannot store. Meanwhile, Leon Henderson's assurance that wheat rationing is not immediately likely remains the year's greatest understatement.

Only possible out: after the war, Europe may be close to starvation and the U.S. may be able to give its wheat surplus away. Then it can start piling up a subsidized surplus all over again."

May 43:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851559,00.html?promoid=...

" Wheat, of all things, is no longer a surplus commodity in the U.S. Last week Franklin Roosevelt underlined this fact by suspending wheat-import quotas to allow Canadian and Australian wheat to come into the country in quantity.

Statistically the U.S. is not yet short of wheat. But the estimated carry-over by next July will be only 550,000,000 bu., less than a year's supply even in normal times; less than half the expected needs for the 1943-44 season. Moreover, most of the carry-over is Government-owned, and Congress refuses to let it be sold below parity prices (over $1.40 a bu.). Since that is much too high to make it economical for cattle feed, and since the $1.05 ceiling on corn has kept that feed crop off the market, Eastern farmers, who grow only part of their own feed, have been pinched.

Western cattlemen, looking ahead for a year or so, fear a pinch sooner or later too. If they turn out to be right, the U.S. decision to upgrade the feeding habits of the world (from plain grain to grain converted to meat) will turn out to have been one of the costliest decisions of World War II."

Today, courtesy http://www.investmenttools.com/futures/soy/chicago_wheat_futures_market....

12/13/07 Since cumulative wheat sales have reached an amazing 89.6% of the USDA forecast as compared to 66.7% on average, there is now talk, that stocks will at some point be wiped out and the US may be forced to curtail or embargo further sales.

12/6/07 Statistics Canada estimates Canada's 2007 wheat production at 20.05 million tons, down 21% YoY and down 587,000 tons from their September guess.

With Prices High, Farming Is Bright Spot In U.S.

Sky-high prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, and a jump in the value of farmland across the U.S. heartland, have boosted the fortunes of farmers this year and breathed fresh life into rural communities.