The Agricultural Crisis

Abstract

From the middle of the 1920’s the terms of trade turned against primary products, and agricultural and raw materials prices were depressed. A “scissors crisis” on a world-wide scale began to emerge. When the full force of the financial crisis hit Europe, it brought a worsening of agrarian conditions as prices and foreign trade continued to decline and credit dried up. The European countries most severely shaken by the agricultural crisis were the economically underdeveloped food exporters of the East. By June, 1931, the Economic Committee of the League of Nations had prepared an extensive report on the situation. The selections that follow are taken from the introductory statement and the report on the conditions in Poland prepared for the League by the head of the Polish land bank.