of production has already been incurred and the field of cucumbers ready 

 to be harvested must be considered as a fixed cost factor and the application 

 of labor for harvesting as a variable factor. Labor can be profitably applied 

 to the harvest as long as the marginal or last unit of output, measured in 

 value, is greater than the cost of the last unit of labor applied. With the 

 figures shown in this analysis, if the labor charge is $.50 per hour, it 

 would be profitable to use 167 hours. If the charge is $1.00 per hour, it 

 would be profitable to use 133 hours. In both cases the marginal cost 

 would be equal to the marginal returns, and when this is true profits are 

 at a maximum. 



If labor is available and cheap, which will depend on alternative oppor- 

 tunities, the field can be picked as often as once a day. If labor is scarce 

 and wages high, three or fewer pickings a week might maximize net re- 

 turns to the operator. This of course depends on the relative prices of 

 cucumber grades. If Grade 4 became relatively higher priced, it would pay 

 to reduce inputs of picking labor. 



While this particular marginal curve, which is based on 'data from 

 only a limited number of farms in one season, should not be used as an 

 accurate foundation for decisions, it does indicate the general problem facing 

 the grower in his decisions. 



Total Cost Curves 



The harvesting is only one part, in this case an important part, of the 

 production process. The growing of the crop prior to harvest requires the 

 use of land, equipment, supplies, and labor, and must be considered in 

 decisions involving the entire season; that is, decisions made before com- 

 mitment to grow the crop. 



For purposes of exploring the management problem, the cost of grow- 

 ing the crop prior to harvest was assumed to be $100 an acre. When a 

 small part-time farmer hires custom plowing and fitting of land and pur- 

 chases fertilizer, seed, and supplies, but uses family labor for growing, the 

 total cash costs would be about $80 per acre. The contribution of family 

 labor prior to harvest is difficult to determine. On some commercial special- 

 ized farms where labor is hired or has alternative uses, the operators might 

 be interested in producing the crop up to harvest for $100 to $150 an acre, 

 depending on their other alternatives. 



In Figure 5, the $100 pre-harvest fixed cost curve and two total 

 cost curves have been drawn. In curve I the rate of labor cost per hour 

 is $.50 and in curve II is $1 per hour. It should be noted also that the level 

 of production in these curves is based on a further assumption that vari- 

 ations in output are due entirely to frequency of picking during the harvest 

 period of five to six weeks. 



In each curve the total cost of the crop increases slowly until an out- 

 put of about $350 is reached after which the cost rises rapidly. These curves 

 of total cost are quite usable in deciding how much labor to use in the 

 harvest of each acre of cucumbers. They show for each alternative output 

 level the total costs expected with $100 worth of pre-harvest cost and 

 either $.50 or $1.00 per hour charge for harvest labor. By comparing these 

 curves with a curve showing the expected returns per acre, the location 

 of the output at which the difference between costs and returns is a maxi- 

 mum can be determined. Using the figures in this study, the most profitable 



11 



