these three jobs are handled. The following are excerpts taken from Travis' and 

 Stanton's article related to leveling costs and general observations on leveling. 



"While the range in picking costs was only 16 to 21 cents, the cost of other 

 labor ranged from 3 to 17 cents per bushel. Farm to farm differences were 

 obvious and striking. While more than half of the growers had costs between 5 

 and 10 cents per bushel for the labor involved in supervision, leveling, and 

 hauling, the degree of variability was greater than expected. Hence, further 

 study of the use of this labor seemed appropriate. 



"One of the major reasons for differences from farm to farm was the leveling 

 operation. Only 4 of the 11 growers who stacked or palletized their fruit had a 

 separate leveling crew or treated leveling as a separate operation. Either the 

 pickers or those who loaded and hauled the fruit did this job." 



Leveling Costs 



"The leveling of field crates during harvest was accomplished in a wide 

 variety of ways. Of the 49 growers interviewed, 10 did no leveling as a separate 

 operation. In fact they indicated no need to level as such. 



"The average cost of leveling for operators who did this as a separate oper- 

 ation was 3,7 cents per bushel. Generally the more bushels handled the lower the 

 cost of leveling per bushel. Of the 39 growers who leveled 29 used a separate 

 crew for the job — five leveled in the orchard, nine before unloading at storage, 

 15 after unloading. Ten others had the hauling crew perform the job either in 

 the orchard or at storage while unloading. 



"In 1960 the lowest cost was obtained by the crews who leveled after un- 

 loading at storage. The highest average cost per bushel occurred when crews did 

 the job before unloading. However, there was great variation in the cost of 

 leveling regardless of where the job was done. 



"It was not possible to determine leveling costs separately from hauling 

 costs when the hauling crew did both jobs. By examining the cost of labor for 

 hauling for those who had the hauling crew level and those who hired special 

 labor for leveling, an indication of the cost of leveling may be obtained. The 

 10 growers, who had their hauling crew level, had an average labor cost for both 

 jobs of 5.7 cents per bushel compared with 3.4 cents for those who hired special 

 labor for leveling. If it is assumed that labor for hauling costs 3.4 cents in 

 both cases, then the labor for leveling would cost the remainder or 2.3 cents per 

 bushel. This cost is generally lower than that experienced by growers treating 

 leveling as a separate operation." 



General Observations on Leveling 



"The leveling operation was given special attention because some growers had 

 successfully eliminated this job during harvest. All growers were questioned as 

 to the role of leveling in their operation. Each grower was asked about the 

 possibility of having his crew pick bushels which required little or no leveling. 

 There was a feeling by many that the picker would not take the necessary time if 

 he were asked to do the job. The cost of supervision necessary to carry this out 

 successfully would be prohibitive in their opinion. On the other hand, several 



