You have probably noticed your bread costs more lately. The rise in the price of flour has been blamed on several factors.
Some farmers are reportedly planting more fields in corn to sell for ethanol manufacture. This leaves less land available for wheat cultivation. There is also alleged to be a world-wide increase in the demand for wheat, compounded by drought in some wheat-producing areas.
In 1828, the York Gazette also reported that the price of flour was rising. They attributed it crop failure in Europe, particularly England. There were wars afoot in Europe, which the paper predicted with contribute to flour prices rising even further. A barrel of flour was already $6.50 a barrel in Baltimore.
The difference is that today the rising cost hits us in the pocketbook; while in 1828 it meant profits for York County farmers and millers. It would have made York County people richer, not poorer. Things do turn around in a century or two, don’t they?
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