THE ACRE IS CONSIDERED THE BASIS 251 



farms has incidentally afforded valuable information on systems 

 of farm management, types of farming and labor requirements. 

 Bulletin 117 of the Minnesota Experiment Station, in this series, 

 gave data on farm labor, horse labor, and depreciation of farm 

 machinery. This bulletin served a very useful purpose in defining 

 the problems involved in such cost investigations, and in estab- 

 lishing certain standardized units in cost analysis. In the same 

 series, bulletin 157 shows the actual labor requirements of farm 

 crops in terms of man- and horse-hours per acre and defined some 

 of the principles underlying the use of man labor on the farm. 

 Since the cost of man- and horse-labor bears a fairly constant rela- 

 tion to total cost of crop-production, man-hour and horse-hour 

 labor form units of cost which can safely be used in different places 

 and in different times, and yet remain comparable. These units 

 can easily be translated into dollars and cents. 



Five Items. In addition to the labor costs of crop production, 

 five items of expense are usually considered, namely: (1) cost of 

 seed, (2) cash cost of threshing, (3) interest and depreciation on 

 machinery and special cash operating expense, (4) land rental or 

 interest on investment in land, and (5) taxes. When rent is 

 omitted, labor constitutes more than half the cost of producing 

 farm crops. And, to quote Minnesota bulletin 157, " Cheap labor 

 is not desired in the sense that low wages indicate an opportunity 

 to lower cost of production. Such labor is often very expensive. 

 The use of well paid labor on highly productive enterprises over 

 an extended period of time makes for a far more prosperous 

 industry than cheap labor." 



The acre is considered the basis or standard unit, and not the 

 yield, in studying labor requirements. The yield may be easily 

 introduced and the acre-unit translated into a bushel-unit for 

 purposes of comparison. Man-hour means the labor of one man 

 for one hour. Horse-hour means the labor of one horse for one 

 hour. Land rental is considered an item of cost because the value 

 of the farm if invested in ordinary securities would yield an income. 

 In some sections, such as North Dakota, this yield is reckoned at 

 6 per cent. In Wisconsin land rental, including taxes, is charged 



Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics, Bui. 88, and Minnesota 

 Experiment Station Bui. 124, 1911. 



The Cost of Producing Minnesota Farm Products: Peck, F. W., Minne- 

 sota Experiment Station Bui. 145, 1915. 



Labor Requirements of Crop Production: Cooper, Thomas, Peck, F. W. 

 and Boss, Andrew, Minnesota Experiment Station, Bui. 157, 1916. 



The Cost of Producing Minnesota Field Crops, 1913-1917: Peck, F. W., 

 Minnesota Experiment Station, Bui. 179, 1918. 



