FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING 579 



discussion of it.) The confusion is increased by failure to distinguish 

 between a successful farm and a successful individual, as has already 

 been pointed out. 



What are the differences in natural conditions, and what are 

 the ways in which the organization and management of successful 

 farms differ from the natural advantages and management of less 

 successful ones ? 



Factors affecting profits. There are hundreds of things that 

 have some effect on profits, but many of these can make only a 

 slight difference. There are many other factors that set absolute 

 limits to the profits. Of these important factors, a few stand out 

 as the prominent ones on the vast majority of farms. From a long 

 study of this question, it is found that the factors that most 

 frequently determine whether the profits are poor, good, or excel- 

 lent are the size of the business, the diversity of the business, the 

 crop yields, and the production per animal. For general farms, 

 the labor income can be placed in the correct group in about 80 

 per cent of the cases, if one knows the area of crops grown, the 

 yields of these crops, the receipts per cow or other important 

 animal, and the percentage of the total receipts that come from 

 cash crops. In other words, these four are the most important 

 factors that control profits in farming. 



Of two farms that have practically the same area of crops, same 

 yields, same receipts per cow, and same proportion of receipts 

 from animals, one may have a labor income of $600 and the other 

 $800. Many other minor factors produce these small variations. 

 Rarely do we find farms that are alike in the four factors men- 

 tioned above and that have such differences as $600 and $2000 

 in labor income. There are, of course, many factors that might 

 cause such a difference, but in actual experience the fact is that 

 they do not often do it. None of these conclusions were derived 

 by theory. They were found by sorting records of farms in many 

 ways and examining the results. The writer would have arrived 

 at entirely different conclusions from theory. It must also be 

 remembered that the records include all farms in the regions 

 studied, with the exceptions noted on page 584. They are not 

 selected in any way. 



