Agricultural Prices

Before he became Vice President of the United States, Henry A. Wallace wrote this quietly revolutionary book: a rigorous, numbers-driven guide to understanding why farmers earn what they earn. Published in 1920, when American agriculture teetered between postwar boom and impending collapse, Agricultural Prices applies mathematical analysis to the most fundamental problem in rural America: why do growers have so little control over the value of their own harvest? Wallace walks readers through the forces that determine farm prices, cost of production, supply and demand, the mysterious machinery of the Chicago Board of Trade, demystifying futures markets and speculation with clarity that feels almost subversive. He introduces the "ratio method," a statistical approach to calculating fair prices based on historical data, giving farmers a concrete tool for decision-making in an irrational market. Written explicitly from the farmer's perspective but with zero sentimentality, this is applied economics at its most practical: a blueprint for surviving volatile markets through informed analysis rather than guesswork. It endures as a founding document of agricultural economics and a window into the progressive mind that would shape New Deal farm policy.