The Harvest of 1930

Abstract

The harvest was a great success, in spite of all the vicissitudes of the previous twelve months. While the spring sowings of grain were somewhat smaller than in 1929, the misfortunes of the previous two winters were not repeated, and grain sown in the autumn of 1929 survived the winter. The total grain area harvested in 1930 was therefore higher than in 1929 and, owing to the favourable weather of the summer of 1930, the yield was also high.¹ First reports put the grain harvest as high as 88 million tons. This figure was later reduced to 83.5, and eventually to 77.2 millions (see Table 1 and p. 349 below). But even the lowest figure was equal to the record postrevolutionary harvest of 1926 and 5 million tons higher than the harvests of 1927–9 (see Table 1). The harvest was successful in all the major grain-surplus regions, and the production of the main food crops, wheat and rye, was some 1 o million tons higher than in 1929.²