Competing Areas 



There are eight states outside the northeastern area which sent over 

 a million pounds of dressed poultry meat to Boston in 1949. Five of these 

 states, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois, are midwestern; 

 the remainder, Oregon, Utah, and California, are located in the Far West. 

 There are also four states, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia, 

 which either have large broiler enterprises shipping to Boston or are in 

 the process of developing a broiler industry that may very well ship to 

 Boston in the near future. 



Measures of Camparative Advantage 



In comparing any advantages or disadvantages New Hampshire may 

 have on the Boston market, it will be necessary to consider those factors 

 which make up the conditions and costs of production up to the point of 

 delivery on the market. 



It is proposed to compare baby chick prices, farm wage rates, hous- 

 ing, farm prices, transportation rates, and feed prices. 



Table 4. Average Price Per Hundred 



Cross Breed Baby Chicks, Straight Run, 



1947-1950 



1. BABY CHICK PRICES 



The range for cross breed baby chick prices from 1947 to 1950 is 

 from $13.54 per hundred in Missouri to $18.75 per hundred in California, 

 with New Hampshire prices at $16.62 per hundred. Comparisons between 

 cross breed chicks were used because they are the most common for broiler 

 production, and mature cross breed hens are usually good egg producers. 



While the price range — - $5.21 — 

 is quite large, there is also a large 

 range in the quality of chicks sold. 

 Those chicks produced in the North- 

 east are usually from PuUorum Clean 

 flocks and hatched in approved hatch- 

 eries, while the chicks from the other 

 sections, notably the Midwest, are 

 usually from PuUorum Passed or 

 Tested flocks and hatcheries. PuU- 

 orum Clean flocks and hatcheries 

 have long been a selling point for 

 New Hampshire poultry producers. 

 This position is being achieved by 

 producers in other states, particular- 

 ly those trying to establish a foot- 

 hold in the broiler industry. Although 

 their costs of production are also 

 rising due to blood testing, the aver- 

 age price of chicks from these approved hatcheries is comparable to New 

 Hampshire. 



PuUorum Clean flocks must pass two consecutive annual tests with no 

 reactors at either time. Hatcheries, to be titled as Approved, must hatch 

 eggs only from United States PuUorum Clean flocks. These blood tests cost 

 the producer five cents for every bird over five months of age on his farm 

 plus an additional cent per bird for approval by the state inspector. This 

 will cost the producer at least $60 per thousand birds tested every year 



