The Agricultural Outlook for 1935

Excerpts from the report: The outlook for domestic demand for farm products in the first half of 1935, as indicated by the prospects for industrial production and consumers' income, is for a level slightly higher than the present level but probably not greatly different from that of the first half of 1934. The possibility of further improvement in the last half of 1935 depends primarily upon further recovery in the durable-goods industries, where the decline in employment and production during the depression was most pronounced. Any further expansion of construction either through the medium of federally sponsored projects not now a part of the program or through private construction would tend to raise the level of industrial activity somewhat higher than seems probable at the present time. With the greatly reduced supplies of most agricultural products and with some improvement in domestic consumers' purchasing power in prospect, it appears that the level of farm prices will tend to rise during the first half of 1935, despite the prospective decline in the foreign demand for American agricultural products. Since agricultural production in 1935 is likely to be larger than the unusually small production of 1934, it may be anticipated that the average level of farm-commodity prices will tend to readjust itself to the increased supplies in the later months of 1935, but the larger marketings will probably maintain the level of farm income.