140 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



organization of the farm business was written, and plans were made 

 for issuing a series of demonstration bulletins setting forth in a 

 more direct and striking way than has been done heretofore the 

 results of a number of farm-management investigations which have 

 been made in the past year. 



DIVISION OF COST OF PRODUCTION. 



R. H. Wilcox, In charge. O. A. Juve, Cost Accountant. 



Farm Records and Accounts ; Crop Costs, M. R. Cooper : Livestock Costs, G. S. 

 Klerumetlson and R. D. Jennings ; Cost and Price Relations, C. R. Hawley. 



This division is working with farmers to help them determine the 

 most productive and profitable types of livestock and crops to pro- 

 duce, the most efficient methods in the management and production 

 of crops and livestock, the cost of producing farm products, and the 

 relation of cost to prices. Showing costs of different farm products 

 is very important, especially just at this time when the farmer is 

 confronted with making readjustments in his production and must 

 have information on costs and relative profitableness of crops and 

 kinds of livestock to aid him in adjusting these enterprises to assure 

 the largest net return. The producer has been rendered valuable 

 assistance through information assembled and sent broadcast by 

 this division covering the most profitable methods and practices in 

 production. Facts have been made available covering the influence 

 of high standards of efficiency in crop and livestock production. 



In the study of individual farm products considerable emphasis 

 has been put upon analyzing the different cost factors to determine 

 their relationship to each other and to the total cost. Particular 

 attention is being given at this time to methods in the field and feed 

 lot which will reduce to a minimum the necessity for direct cash 

 expenditures and to substituting, in so far as economic, those enter- 

 prises that can be handled by the feed and labor available on the 

 farm. This has led to studies covering the proportion of cash 

 and noncash cost demands made by the important farm products 

 during the course of their production, and has resulted in many 

 adjustments being made by producers to reduce their cash expenses. 



In all cost studies there has been determined the amounts of labor 

 and equipment required for the various operations, the seasonal 

 distribution of this labor, the quantities of feed and pasture used 

 in the production of meat and horsepower, and with all farm prod- 

 ucts just how their demands upon the factors of production influ- 

 ence the organization of the farm of which they are a unit. 



The work of this division is grouped into three sections : (1) Farm 

 •records and accounts, (2) livestock costs, and (3) crop costs. 



FARM RECORDS GATHERED IN MANY STATES. 



Farm records and accounts are now being kept on a large number 

 of farms covering the important systems and types of farming 

 throughout the United States. These data depict for each type of 

 farming a day by day record of farm operations, showing the de- 

 mands made by each crop and kind of livestock for labor, machinery, 

 cash expenditures, farm-grown feeds, and the other elements of pro- 

 duction. 



