Show raising pop corn may be overdone As a result of attractive prices interest Is gaining momentum Prova prepared red by tho the united states deport ment of agriculture I 1 service indications now point to the pos sibil lity that pop corn growing may be overdone in 1931 say specialists of the united states deportment department of agriculture pop corn prices they point out are very sensitive to sup ply and price depressions depression due 1 to 0 overproduction have occur occurred red 1 in a the past after a few years ot of fairly normal production if a short crop procure as the result of unfavorable woollier weather or other causes the price rises to a figure attractive to growers immediately many new producers appear who hood flood the market with disastrous r results to the old growers as well as to themselves relatively high current prices for pop corn and low prices for field corn have combined to make pop corn appear a desirable crop say specialists of the bureau of crop industry judging from faoro current correspondence they say many old growers are expanding their acreage and others attracted by stories of their neighbors profits are planning to substitute pop corn for part of their field corn acreage interest gains momentum the present interest in pop corn has been gaining gainin momentum for more than a year yea r as a result 0 of f attractive prices ordinarily the unbalanced situation would have corrected itself before now but the weather of 1930 1030 conspired to re duce the yields of pop corn as well as field corn and so put off the day of price reduction stocks of old pop corn were pretty well cleaned up during the winter of 1929 30 and prices rose considerably in response to this stimulus acreage was expanded in 1930 1030 but the effect was offset by the unfavorable weather prices of pop corn have declined somewhat lately partly at least in sympathy with general price levels but they are comparatively high as compared with old field corn the specialists point out what Is happening may be illustrated by the situation in iowa they say which Is the leadin leading state in the production of commercial pop corn in 1930 iowa increased her pop corn acreage to nearly twice that of 1929 and nearly three times that of 1927 if instead of the heat and drought of last summer the weather had been favorable for corn enough pop corn would have been produced to glut the market and overproduction such as that of 1925 would have hare occurred pop corn acreage the pop corn acreage of the united states Is only about one tenth of 1 per cent of the total corn acreage the department workers comment although the commercial growing of pop corn is concentrated in certain districts to a considerable extent much of the best land in the heart of the corn belt Is suitable for growing pop corn it can be appreciated therefore they say that the acreage of this crop ell can n be easily over expanded the unusually high prices of a year ago together with the relatively high prices at present as compared to other grains may easily lead to the production of too much pop corn in 1931 if the season Is favorable it may be well for those who are planning to increase el acreage and especially for those planning to grow pop corn for the first time to consider the situation car carefully before plunging too deeply the bureau warns |