While the Shire has long prided itself on its self-sufficiency, Hobbits have also had active and longstanding trading relationships with our nearest neighbours, the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains.

The ancient East-West Road ran through the Shire to its end at the Grey Havens, and dwarves had always used it on their way to their mines in the Blue Mountains. They were the hobbits’ chief source of news from distant parts – if they wanted any: as a rule dwarves said little and hobbits asked no more. (Tolkien, FR I.52)

However, clearly there was much trade between our peoples, since our historian, in recording the events leading up to the Quest of Erebor and Bilbo Baggins’ role in that well-known adventure, mentions Hobbits’ aversion to “haggl[ing]” over the metal, especially the “iron”, for which we typically traded our grains, fruits, and vegetables (Tolkien, UT 431; Tolkien, Peoples 287 n10). In “Of Dwarves and Men,” our historian concludes:

Thus there grew up in those regions the economy, later characteristic of the dealings of Dwarves and Men (including Hobbits): Men became the chief providers of food, as herdsmen, shepherds, and land-tillers, which the Dwarves exchanged for work as builders, roadmakers, miners, and the makers of things of craft, from useful tools to weapons and arms and many other things of great cost and skill.