"This study deals with orchard farm management practices and the costs and 

 returns of producing apples on small, medium and large sized farms. The 

 basic information covers the period July 1, 1956 to June 30, 1957. Appro- 

 ximately one-third of the commercial apple growers in Maine are represented. 



"The 1956 commercial apple crop for the state at 820,000 bushels was 18 per 

 cent under the 10-year average for 1948-57. 



"A smaller crop both in the state and nationally, however, resulted in rela- 

 tively favorable prices for apples during the 1956-57 season. The average 

 price received by Maine growers for the 1956 crop was $2.60 per bushel and 

 ccmpares to $2.44 for the previous 10-year average. 



"The average acreage of the farms in this study was 260 of which 71 acres 

 were in crops. Sixty per cent of the cropland was in apples, 37 per cent 

 in hay and 3 per cent was in miscellaneous crops. 



'•The farms ranged from 6 to 250 acres of orchard per farm and averaged 43 

 acres. Farms with less than 20 acres of orchard were designated as small 

 while those with 21 to 40 acres were considered medium sized. A large 

 farm was one with over 40 acres of orchard. 



"Twenty-eight per cent of the trees reported were under ten years of age and 

 were classified as non-bearing trees. The average number of trees per acre 

 was 43. The 1956 yield for all varieties averaged 284 bushels per bearing 

 acre and 6.6 bushels per bearing tree. Two-thirds of the apple crop was of 

 the Mcintosh variety. 



"The average capital investment per farm was $41,432. Land and buildings 

 accounted for approximately three-fourths of the capital investment. Or- 

 chard land was valued at an average of $287 per acre. Machinery and equip- 

 ment represented nearly 16 per cent and supplies plus livestock approxi- 

 mately 9 per cent of the average investment per farm. 



"Average annual receipts amounted to $23,043 per farm. Apple sales averaged 

 $17,798 and represented 77 per cent of the receipts. Wages from work off 

 the farm was an important source of income to growers with small orchards. 



"Average annual expenses per farm were $18,213. Containers and supplies, 

 labor, and spray and dust materials were the most important items of ex- 

 pense. Labor alone accounted for 34 per cent of the total expense. 



"The average labor income per operator was $2,805 and ranged from a loss of 

 $8,000 to a gain of over $12,000. Over one-third of the operators had la- 

 bor inccmes in excess of $4,000, and twelve operators experienced minus 

 labor incomes . 



"The cost of producing and marketing apples during the 1956 season ranged 

 from $373 to $730 per acre of bearing trees and averaged $601 per acre or 

 $2.12 a bushel. Of the total costs in producing and selling apples 40 per 

 cent was accounted for by the growing operations, 17 per cent was spent in 

 harvesting the apples and 43 per cent was represented by marketing costs. 



