l668 RURA.L ECONOMICS 



' Also, in 6 counties executive conimitf ees have been formed to organise 

 the work of farm management work in their respective counties. The far- 

 mers themselv^es are so interested in the movement that the best results may 

 be expected, and it is possible that in the near future they will contribute 

 financially to defraj^ expenses and to aid in the extension of this demonstra- 

 tion work. 



12 13 - Statistical Researches on the Chief Factors Which Influence Farm Profit in 



Denmark. — Nanneson L., in Dansk Land, Year IV, pp. 35-53. Copenhagen, February 

 1016. 



These statistical researches are based on data collected by the Office 

 for Agricultural Accounts at Malmohus (IMalmohus Lens Bogforingsfo- 

 rening). * 



I'he economic result of agricultural enterprise may be considered in 

 various ways, depending upon whether the type of enterprise be of a capi- 

 talist nature or merely seeks to find a useful outlet for labour, as on the farms 

 of the peasant proprietors. The wage value for the work done gives an 

 index of the profit -making capacity of farms under peasant proprietors, and 

 a comparison is made with the interest on capital on other t^'pes of farms. 

 The statistical method is used for making this comparison in order to bring 

 out clearly the factors by which farm profits are influenced. 



Farms under peasant proprietors. — Data were obtained from 14 farms 

 and a calculation has been made of the value of the laboui of the owner's 

 family after deducting a fair interest oti the capital laid out (at 4 y^ P^^ 

 cent for capital invested in land and 6 pjer cent for working capital) from 

 the returns for the work done. Value for work done is compared with the 

 normal wage value, calculated on the scale of the wage of tJie local labour- 

 ers. This is set out in Table I, which also gives the net profit per acre 

 and the race of interest on capital obtained on each farm. 



The large differences in the net profit per acre are accentuated in the 

 rate of interest because of the different amounts of capital invested per acre. 

 The rate of interest fluctuates from a minimum of 0.2 per cent to a maximum 

 of 9.4 per cent, averaging 4.9 per cent for the 14 farms. Consequently 

 there are erjually big differences in the wages earned by tLe owner's family, 

 which vary from 47.5 per cent to 144.2 per cent of the normal wages, 

 averaging 99.7 per cent. On account of these large variations, the farms 

 have been divided into two groups according to the interest yielded in 

 order to find out by what factors the profit-making capacity is determined. 

 The factors for the two groups of farms are compared in Table II. In the 

 first group the gross return from livestock is much greater than in the 

 second, the return from cows and pigs being double, and that from other 

 stock being more than double. In spite of their less favourable economic 

 emplacement the farms of group I have given an increase'! net return of 

 44.S per acre, so that the interest in group I is 7.2 \ier cent and in group II 

 is only 2.2 per cent. The value of the work done on the farms of 

 group I is double that in group 11, although the working expenses are 

 almost the same in both groups. It appears, therefore, that intensive 

 cattle rearing is the most profitable way of emplo3'ing labour on the 



