ANNUAL REPORT, 1941 5 



Two Years of Vegetable Growing in Bristol County, Massachusetts — 1939 and 

 1940. The farm records for 1939 and 1940 on the specialized vegetable farms 

 were studied to determine the reasons for the increased returns in the latter year. 

 Net cash return averaged $1777 per farm in 1940 compared to a loss of $4 in 1939. 

 Records were obtained for 20 of these 22 farms in bath \ears. 



Higher yields and higher prices for four important crops were chiefly respon- 

 sible for the higher returns. The acres of crops per farm were practically equal, 

 cash farm expenses increased only 20 percent over 1939, but sale? of produce 

 increased 60 percent. Yields and prices increased greatly in 1940 over 1939 for 

 iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, green beans, and early tomitoes. Yields were main- 

 tained for sweet corn, late tomatoes, cabbage, and potatoes, but prices were 

 lower particularly for cabbage and tomatoes. 



Net cash returns for the livestock-vegetable farms were slightly lower in 1940, 

 with an average of $1399 compared to $1453 in 1939. Number of cows and acres 

 of crops for sale were the same in both years, but the average size of poultry 

 flocks increased slighth'. Unprofitable crops such as potatoes, cabbage, and 

 sweet corn were responsible for the lower returns in 1940. 



Budget analyses were made for a small and a large specialized vegetable farm 

 and for a livestock-vegetable farm to show e.Kpenses, income, yields, and prices 

 for the two years. Diversification of the farm business on the latter farm was 

 discussed in relation to the more uniform returns in both years. Preliminary 

 recommendations for improving the farm business were made onthe basis of this 

 two-year study. 



Results of this study were published in Mimeograph FM9 in October 1941 

 entitled, "Two Years of Vegetable Growing in Bristol County, Massachusetts-s- 

 1939 and 1940." 



Diversification of the Farm Business. In response to a request from the Sub- 

 committee on Diversification, of the Essex County Rural Policy (Land Use 

 Planning) Committee, a summary was made of farm recorde from previous 

 studies to show the effect of various types of diversified farm businesses on farm 

 organization and net returns. 



Diversity by the processing and distribution of farm products was shown to 

 be very profitable in the case of retail dairy farms from the 1936-37 study of 

 dairy farm management. With the same number of cows per herd, but receiving 

 7 cents per quart extra for milk, the retail farms had net cash returns four times 

 greater than the specialized wholesale dairy farms. In the case of poultry farms 

 for 1937 this method of diversification was not so profitable. The retail farms 

 had larger flocks, and more eggs were sold at a price 6.5 cents per dozen higher; 

 but net cash returns and farm income were almost equal to those on the spe- 

 cialized wholesale poultry farms. Cash operating expenses were too high and the 

 spread from wholesale to retail price was too narrow for extra profitable operation 

 of these retail farms. 



Wholesale dairj- farms with a fruit or vegetable enterprise were generally more 

 profitable than the specialized dairy farms. Because of unfavorable price rela- 

 tionships in 1936, the combination of dairy and poultry enterprises was less 

 profitable. 



Another method of diversification on poultrv farms was the selling of hatching 

 eggs or baby chicks in addition to market eggs, broilers, and fowl. The more 

 intensive of these hatchery farms with 30 percent of cash receipts from the sale 

 of baby chicks and pullets showed the highest net returns of any group in the 

 1937 study. The wholesale egg farms with some hatching egg and baby chick' 

 business were the next most profitable, although the price received for market 

 eggs was lowest. Largest size of laying flock, highest egg production per hen, 



