-6- 



"The average cost of growing apples ranged from $187 per acre on the me- 

 dium sized farms to $261 on the large farms and averaged $239 per acre 

 or 84 cents per bushel for the 42 farms. The two most important cost items 

 were labor and spray or dust materials. Together they represented 52 per 

 cent of the total growing cost. 



"Average harvesting costs ranged from $64 per acre on the medium sized 

 farms to $121 per acre on the large farms. The harvesting cost on the 

 small farms was $68 per acre and the average for the 42 farms was $101 

 per acre or 36 cents per bushel. 



"Marketing costs were computed for the various size groups and averaged $88 

 per acre for the small farms, $122 for the medium group and $348 for the 

 large farms. The average for all farms was $261 per acre or 92 cents per 

 bushel. The three largest marketing expense items were labor, containers 

 and supplies, and commission sales and services. Other studies are planned 

 to provide a more detailed analysis of cost and market outlet information. 



"The return from the sale of apples for the 42 farms ranged from $319 per 

 acre for the small farms to $874 on the large farms and averaged $691 per 

 acre or $2.44 per bushel for all farms. Returns per bushel averaged $1.34, 

 $1.94 and $2.69 on the small, medium and large farms respectively. 



"The larger farm businesses had an average net gain of $144 per acre or 45 

 cents per bushel. This compares with a net gain of $22 per acre or 10 cents 

 per bushel for the medium sized farms and to an average loss of $7 6 per acre 

 or 33 cents per bushel for the small farms. The net gain for all farms 

 averaged $90 per acre or 32 cents per bushel. 



"The average orchardist used 49 hours of labor per acre for growing apples 

 and caring for his orchard. The pruning and brush removal operation re- 

 quired 15.7 hours per acre. Spraying and dusting ranked second at 6.6 

 hours. Thinning was third and averaged 4 hours per acre. All other opera- 

 tions each required less than 3 hours per acre. 



"Eighty-eight per cent of the labor required was hired and 12 per cent was 



performed by the farm operator and his family. The hourly wage rate 

 ranged from 75 cents to $2.00 per hour. The most common value given for 

 labor was $1.00 per hour. 



"Growers applied an average of 12 spray or dust applications during the 

 1956 season at a cost of $51 per bearing acre. The cost per application 

 ranged from $3.55 per acre for the small farms to $4.83 on the large farms 

 and averaged $4.25 per acre for the 42 farms. The cost per tree was appro- 

 ximately 10 cents per application and the average cost per bushel harvested 

 was 18 cents. 



"Farmers whose orchards yielded less than 200 bushels per acre had a growing 

 cost of $1.39 per bushel. With yields of 300 bushels or more per acre the 

 growing cost averaged 73 cents per bushel. The average yield per acre for 

 all farms was 284 bushels and the average cost of growing apples was 84 cents 

 per bushel. 



