PLANNING THE FARM BUSINESS ON THREE DAIRY- 

 FRUIT FARMS IN MASSACHUSETTS 



By R. L. Mighell, Assistant Research Professor 

 of Farm Management 



This study presents an analysis of the farming systems followed by three 

 neighboring Massachusetts farmers. All three are dairymen and apple grow- 

 ers. Although they have many problems in common, the differences in their 

 farm organizations are numerous. Their fixed resources of land and buildings 

 are quite different. The orchards differ in size, age and varieties of apples. 

 The dairy cows vary in number and production. Perhaps most important of 

 all are the differences in the personal capacity^ and efficiency of the three 

 operators. 



The personal factor is one of the most difficult to analyze. In the case of 

 these three farmers it is probable that Mr. C, who has the largest farm, has 

 both more capacity and more efficiency than either Mr. A or Mr. B, the other 

 two farmers. Mr. A, operating the smallest business, shows the least capacity 

 but possibly is more efficient than Mr. B. These judgments are based on the 

 past record of each farmer and may not be an indication of what each is 

 capable of doing under changed conditions. But in any event, every farmer 

 must take his personal abilities into account in planning changes in his farm 

 organization. If he undertakes more than he has capacity for managing, he 

 may make less money than by operating on a smaller scale. He must also 

 consider all his fixed resources and not be influenced too much by other farm- 

 ers, who may be operating under entirely different conditions. A neighbor 

 with ten acres of silage corn may be able to buy a corn binder, when he, him- 

 self, can not afford one for four acres. Some dairjmen may profitably fertilize 

 pasture, while others with more pasture land cannot aft'ord to do so. 



Since each of the three farms in this study represents a different type of 

 business, the analysis is developed separately for each individual case and 

 comparisons are drawn only for the purpose of showing how the various 

 changes work out under the diff'erent conditions. Some of the adjustments 

 discussed are already adopted or under way, while others are proposed. 



FARM A— A SMALL DAIRY-FRUIT FARM 



Farm A is a small one-man unit with 11 cows and 150 bearing apple trees. 

 The operator, Mr. A, is a young man who has been farming about ten years. 

 For the jjast few years he has had difficulty in making enough money from the 

 farm to meet his family expenses. He is very much interested in working 

 out clianges or adjustments in his present farming system and methods of 

 operation which will increase his net income. Before outlining the adjust- 

 ments which he has considered and is planning to make, the present fanning 

 svstem will be described. 



'The term "capacity',' is used in the economic sense, refei-ring to the size of busi- 

 ness which the farmer is capable of managing. Efficiency is the ratio between the 

 value of the farm production and the value of the cost factors used. Both capacity 

 and efficiency are necessary to secure the highest farm profit. 



