WHAT IT COSTS TO PRODUCE MILK IN 

 NEW ENGLAND.^ 



BY P. M. HARWOOD. 



It costs around 5 cents and upward to produce a quart of 

 market milk. 



It costs 6 cents and upward, frequently 8 cents, to pro- 

 duce a quart of milk of superior quality and cleanliness.^ 



It costs 10 to 12 cents and upward to produce a quart of 

 certified milk. 



Market milk brought in by railroad cannot be sold at 

 retail in large cities under the present system of handling, 

 and return 5 cents to the producer and a fair profit to the 

 dealer, for less than 10 cents per quart. 



Milk of superior quality and cleanliness, usually a near-by 

 product, cannot be profitably sold at retail for less than 10 

 to 12 cents per quart, according to the locality and condi- 

 tions. 



Certified milk cannot be retailed for less than 15 to 20 

 cents per quart and return cost to the producer with a fair 

 margin for the distributor. 



Retailing milk is a business by itself, whether done by 

 the milk producer or by another. 



The amount of certified milk sold in Massachusetts — the 

 product of 10 to 12 dairies — is very small. 



The amount of milk of superior quality and cleanliness, 

 while considerably larger than that of certified milk, is 

 small when compared with general market milk. 



There were shipped into Boston by rail 114,433,976 quarts 

 of milk in 1906 and 104,099,234 quarts in 1912, making a 

 decrease of 10,334,742 quarts in six years. This, in the face 



1 The exact coat of milk production ia not the same for any two dairymen; neither is it the 

 same from time to time with any one dairyman. Variations in milk flow, available foods, 

 accidental losses, hired help, and many other things enter into the computation. Therefore 

 the cost of producing a quart of milk can be stated only in general terms. 



* This includes so-called "inspected milk." 



