Word: grained
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...these days of depressed grain prices, many American farmers consider themselves lucky if they can cover their production costs. But one eastern Montana farmer, Gene Voss, did better-if on a small scale. With his winter wheat selling for less than $2 per bu. and costing $3.50 per bu. to produce, Voss proposed a barter deal to William Roesgen, editor of the Billings Gazette. "I believe wheat should be $6 per bu.," wrote Voss. "I would gladly bring you 9¼ bu. for one of your subscriptions...
...sharp-trading stereotypes of the Philadelphia lawyer, the Greek shipowner and the Swiss banker must now be added a new model of shrewdness: the Russian grain buyer. In the celebrated "Great Grain Robbery" of 1972, Soviet agricultural agents bought up whole shiploads of U.S. wheat, managing not only to secure it at bargain prices but also to get the U.S. Government to foot part of the bill through a farm subsidy program. Now, much to Washington's embarrassment, the Russians have struck-and stung-again...
...sting came to light when Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev announced that the 1977 Soviet grain harvest would amount to 194 million metric tons-the lowest since 1975. That bland statistic caused tremors of shock through not only the U.S. Department of Agriculture but the Central Intelligence Agency as well. All summer long the Agriculture experts and the CIA operatives who try to keep track of conditions on Soviet farms had forecast a fat 215 million-ton harvest, indicating that Moscow would not need to buy much foreign grain this year. But the bulletin from Brezhnev meant precisely the opposite...
...grain deal of 1972, the Russians bought large quantities of U.S. wheat and corn at a time when American farmers were already fairly scraping their silos to meet heavy domestic and foreign demand. Prices of some grains more than doubled as a result, giving a sharp upward kick to inflation. Even more annoying was the fact that, because U.S. officials were not aware of the big Soviet purchases, the grain was sold under a Government subsidy program, which meant that U.S. taxpayers paid for much of the Russian grain bought in the U.S. To avoid a replay of that fiasco...
...freights of Flemish grain and English cotton...