As the international situation shifted like clouds and storms, Franz no longer paid much attention to it. Right now, he was staring at the list of price changes for the first quarter.
By common sense, the prices of necessities such as grain were bound to rise during wartime, especially when Europe's largest raw grain exporter had been dragged into war.
Because of the war, the Russian Empire's total grain exports had fallen sharply since last year. The amount flowing into Austria alone had dropped by a quarter.
Without question, this shortfall had been offset by increased grain production within Austria itself.
Although potash fertilizer had only begun to be promoted last year and had not yet seen widespread civilian use, Austria had state-owned farms!
In fact, the number of state-owned farms directly controlled by the government had been steadily declining. Due to management costs, many small and medium-sized farms had been leased out to private individuals.
Yet no matter how much their numbers were reduced, state-owned farms still occupied a considerable area of land. In the European territories alone, they accounted for less than five percent of cultivated land, but once the other regions were included, it was a different story.
Take the Asia Minor Peninsula, for example. Aside from noble estates and land granted for military merit, nearly all remaining farmland belonged to state-owned farms.
It was not that Franz wanted to run so many state-owned farms; it was mainly a matter of necessity. If the government did not arrange for people to take them over, the farmland left behind by the Ottoman would have gone to ruin.
Selling it to private citizens was out of the question. That would weaken the appeal of land grants for military merit and shake Austria's very foundations.
Aside from the initial land