Show expect farm income to increase lasalle alap of business conditions V I 1 0 ia OVA for 1941 a R FAR A C P d L income of farmers throughout the country is expected to rise over five per cent this year the shrinking foreign export market is still more than replaced by an increasing domestic demand the gain in income however will be slightly offset by higher prices of production by L G ELLIOTT president lasalle extension university the farmers of the country will probably receive larger income this year than they did in 1940 during the next few months they will be marketing the remainder of their last years crop which was larger than average for most of these crops they will receive prices which are above the level of a year ago farmers benefit when employment and pay rolls in the cities are high demand tor for their products is increased whenever the income of industrial workers rises as it has been doing fur for several months defense expenditures are already double the amount of six months ago and are scheduled to go much higher soon while it lasts this spending provides employment to a larger number of workers and thus increases their ability to buy demand is also being increased by the efforts that are being made by the government to raise the purchasing power of the low income families through the food stamp plan and to distribute large quantities of food to persons on relief the prices received by farmers are gradually rising and for several months have averaged higher than a year ago the gain in income from higher prices and greater demand may be partly offset by higher costs of production during the coming year in spite of this however the outlook tor for agriculture during 1941 is favorable farmers and business men in rural communities are very likely to have the best year in more than a decade prospects for industry are also favorable vo rable and the output of factories is expected to be around 10 per cent higher than the all time peak production last year those industries directly affected by war orders and defense expenditures such as steel machinery aircraft and shipbuilding will continue to make the greatest gains other lines of industry are moving forward under the stimulus of greater consumer purchasing power the outlook Is that a balanced upward trend will continue tor for both agriculture and industry |