PRICE-FIXING AND THE COST OF FARM PRODUCTS 373 



question are produced under condition of joint costs. It does 

 not mean, however, that cost accounting is of no use in the study 

 of this problem ; in fact, accounts are very necessary, but in a 

 different way from what has been supposed. Accounts are 

 useful to the farmer in making choice of crops and live stock 

 enterprises and his methods of production. Accounts are 

 useful to the price commissioner in estimating the price necessary 

 to call out continuously the desired supply of produce of a given 

 kind and of suitable quality. For these purposes specific costs 

 may not be needed. What are needed are figures comparing 

 the profitableness of the different things to which the producer 

 can turn his attention. The alert farmer is ever figuring on the 

 combination of crop and live stock production which will pay 

 him best with a given price schedule and with given costs for 

 land, labor, and equipments. 



When the point of view in farm cost accounting is shifted 

 from specific costs to comparison of profits the whole problem is 

 much simplified. In the attempt to secure specific costs, ac- 

 counts had to be kept in minute detail comprehending every 

 activity and economic relation of the farm. As soon as one 

 shifts to the point of view of comparing the profits of competing 

 enterprises, no record need be kept unless the farmer really has 

 a choice and then only such records as are essential to answering 

 the question, Does this pay better than that? For example, 

 the farmer in southern Wisconsin has a choice between growing 

 oats and barley. In order to make a wise choice on this point 

 it is not necessary to know the specific cost of growing either 

 oats or barley. All that is necessary is to know differences in 

 costs and differences in the value of the crops. In this case the 

 same tools, machinery, horses, and men are used at essentially 

 the same time of year whether the farmer grows the one crop 

 or the other. These common items of cost may be omitted, for 

 they cancel each other in the calculation. When put in this 

 form the question is so simple that almost any farmer can figure 

 it out on the basis of such facts as are easily available by keeping 

 a production record and by studying price quotations. 



The milk producer has a number of ways of disposing of his 



