The Grain Collections of 1929

Abstract

The grain collections following the 1928 harvest were a failure. In the agricultural year July 1928–June 1929, total grain collected amounted to 10.8 million tons, less than in each of the previous two years (see Table 8(a)). The decline in ‘centralised’ collections was even greater: only 8.3 million tons were received as compared with 10.1 in 1927/28. Centralised collections were particularly small in 1928/29 because part of the responsibility for the collections was transferred to local authorities, who were permitted to undertake larger ‘decentralised’ collections than in the previous year.¹ But even the reduced plan for centralised collections was not fully carried out.² The most serious shortage was of food grains: total collections declined by 20 per cent (see Table 8(b)).