APPENDIX D 

 COSTS AND PRICES 



Various investigations have been made of economic costs 

 at different stages of the milk industry from cow to con- 

 sumer. No attempt will be made here to present any general 

 abstract of these, much less to discuss all the details. Cost 

 items, furthermore, vary decidedly at different times and 

 in different regions. Hence the results quoted below are to 

 be taken merely as illustrative. The figures of direct sig- 

 nificance in any locality are those derived from local con- 

 ditions, e. g., by investigating bodies and agricultural 

 agencies. 



COST OF PRODUCTION 



While most of the controversy relative to prices has cen- 

 tered about the cost of production, this is the hardest of the 

 various costs to draw from practical conditions. Accurate 

 bookkeeping by dairy farmers is very rare. Figures presented 

 by farmers operating under common conditions show dis- 

 crepancies and variations which must produce a sense of 

 caution with regard to all such figures. The majority of 

 dairy farmers, particularly small farmers, do not know the 

 profit or loss on their business of milk production as a whole, 

 much less on the outputs of individual cows in their herds. 

 Many such farmers are producing milk either at a loss or 

 at little or no profit, are not taking measures to improve 

 their conditions, and are unable to present convincing figures 

 when the question of milk prices arises. 



The Boston Chamber of Commerce, through its Committee 



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