Kanitz was born in Mednicken, in the Province of Prussia (now Drushnoye, Zelenogradsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast).[2] In 1894 he proposed the Kanitz Plan: an import monopoly for grain, whereby all grain imports would be made on the government's account and resold on the home market at a price calculated from the average price of the last 40 years.[3] If import prices were below this level, the profits would go into a reserve fund that would be used to subsidise imports when the price rose above the average.[3] As grain prices at that time were lower than they had been for most of the previous 40 years, the effect of the Kanitz Plan would been considerable price rises.[3]