AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CANNING CROPS 55 



were merely local, while in the Chautauqua area some tomatoes were 

 sold in near-by cities or shipped to more distant markets. The average 

 price received for the market tomatoes sold in the Chautauqua area was 

 2.6 cents a pound. This was not the net price, as there were expenses 

 for baskets and other marketing costs. 



TABLE 56. POUNDS OF TOMATOES SOLD ON 133 FARMS, 1920 



A larger proportion of the tomatoes would probably have been sold as 

 market tomatoes in years when the market for them was better. In 

 1919, on 326 farms in the Chautauqua area, 3.7 per cent of the tomatoes 

 sold did not go to the canning companies. 4 Market conditions for canned 

 tomatoes were different in 1919 (table 55). The canners then accepted 

 all tomatoes that were offered. 



It is evident that the returns from tomatoes grown for manufacture 

 depend in part on market conditions in the fall, even if the tomatoes are 

 contracted for in advance. When tomatoes that are not contracted for 

 are bought in the fall, as is common in some sections, both the price and 

 the quantity that will be bought will vary with the price. at which the 

 manufactured products can be sold. The size of the crop and of the result- 

 ing pack is, of course, a large factor in the price at which the manufactured 

 products can be sold. If the price paid for contracted tomatoes varied 

 with the price at which the manufactured products could be sold, the 

 restriction of deliveries on the part of the canners and the sales to outside 

 markets by farmers would be less likely to occur. The canner would be 

 protected against losses to which he is exposed when he obligates himself 

 to accept an extremely variable and unknown quantity of tomatoes at 

 a fixed price, to be manufactured into a product the price of which is 

 unknown. When the canner protects himself by selling "futures," 

 he does not incur this risk except on the unsold part of his pack. In years 

 when the production of canned tomatoes is above the average, the risk 

 on the unsold part of a pack must necessarily be considerable. The farmer 

 also would get a higher return for a short crop, as the price per ton under 

 such circumstances would ordinarily be higher than the usual contract 

 price. He would get a smaller return in years when the production was 

 large, but would be assured of a market for his entire crop at some price. 



Return per hour of labor 



The return per hour of labor spent on the crop is shown in table 57. 

 These figures are for a year when the yield per acre was better than the 

 average. With a yield per acre of 7 tons, the cost per ton on these farms 

 in 1920 would have been about $21.85 an d the return per hour of labor 



4 From unpublished data of survey made by the Department of Vegetable Gardening, Cornell University, 

 1919- 



