62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



to be the most profitable. In case of crop yields, however, 

 investigations have shown that the biggest yield is not, by any 

 means, always the most profitable yield. As a rule, the most, 

 profitable yield of crops for the community ranges from 15 to 

 30 per cent above the average of the good farmers of that 

 community. If the yield rises much above this figure the 

 profits of the farmer's business are usually found to decrease. 

 It is possible to suffer from too big crop yields. Quite a few 

 American farmers have reached this point. The optimum 

 yield for greatest profit, of course, varies widely with different 

 soils and economic conditions. 



Studies of one large group of Pennsylvania farms showed 

 that when the yield of crops reached a point about 35 per cent 

 above the average for the region there was a sharp decrease in 

 profits. The price of products as related to the relative costs 

 of yields of different magnitudes seems to be the governing 

 factor in determining the most profitable yield. Survey studies 

 indicate that very few farmers are producing as large crop 

 yields as existing economic conditions warrant. 



Farm practice, in the aggregate, always responds to changed 

 prices of commodities, but this response by the individual 

 farmer, in the majority of cases, is made far more slowly than 

 the greatest profit would indicate. 



To illustrate how the yield is determined by prevailing 

 price of a product, the case of corn in North Carolina may be 

 cited. In the decade previous to the last the average price 

 per bushel of corn in that State was about 55 cents. The 

 yield per acre was around 13 bushels. During the past decade 

 the price has ranged around 85 cents a bushel, and the yield 

 has increased to about 20 bushels per acre. The explanation 

 of this probably lies in the fact that under the higher pre- 

 vailing price it became profitable to use more fertilizer and 

 legumes and give better tillage to the crop than under the low 

 scale of prices. No doubt the average yield is yet far below 

 what would be the most profitable under existing conditions. 



Survey studies have never disclosed, however, a group of 

 farms on which the yield per cow had reached a point above 

 which profits decreased. There does seem to be a point in 

 yield per cow above which increased yield is not accompanied 



