50 Agricultukal Prices 



10 per cent by Dun's metals, and 5 per cent by Dun's miscella- 

 neous. Dun's metals are given a lag of two years, and Dun's mis- 

 cellaneous of one year, owing to the fact that machinery and the 

 miscellaneous overhead expenses entering into the cost of corn pro- 

 duction become felt rather slowly. 



Apph"ing the ratio method, we will take as our base the ten- 

 year period from 189T to 1906. During this period Iowa land 

 averaged about $50 an acre; harvest labor, without board, $2 a 

 day; corn, 29.4 cents a bushel; hay, $5.47 a ton; oats, 23 cents a 

 bushel: Dun's metals, about $14, and Dun's miscellaneous, about 

 $15. Tlie average acre of Iowa corn during this ten-year period 

 was worth on a December 1st farm basis $10. 



Now, in 1919, Iowa land was worth about $192 an acre, or 

 384 per cent of the basic ten-year period; man labor, without 

 board, at harvest time was around $5.20 a day, or approximately 

 260 per cent of this ten-year basic period. In like manner, corn was 

 410 per cent ; oats, 280 per cent; hay, 330 per cent; Dun's metals, 

 • 230 per cent, and Dun's miscellaneous, 230 per cent. If land is al- 

 lowed a weighting of 35 per cent; man labor, 20 per cent ; corn, 15 

 per cent; hay, 10 per cent; oats, 5 per cent; Dun's metals, 10 per 

 cent, and Dun's miscellaneous, 5 per cent, we arrive at 329 per 

 cent as the cost of producing an acre of corn in 1919, as compared 

 with 100 per cent for the basic ten-^'^ear period. In the basic ten- 

 \Qiir period, an acre of corn actually sold for $10. In 1919, in 

 order to come as near breaking even as in the basic ten-year period, 

 ;;n acre of corn should sell for $32.90. The ratio method gives 

 almost identically the same results as the farm management method. 

 Both indicate that it cost the average Iowa farmer in 1919 about 

 80 cents to produce a bushel of corn on a basis of December 1st 

 farm values.* 



The ratio method may be applied to other crops by using a 

 somewhat different weighting of the production factors. In the 

 case of oats in Iowa, for instance, land may be given a Aveighting 

 of about 35 per cent; man labor, 15 per cent; corn, 10 per cent; 

 hay, 10 per cent; oats, 15 per cent; Dun's metals, 10 per cent, 

 and Dun's miscellaneous, 5 per cent. This would indicate that 

 oats in Iowa in 1919 cost about 324 per cent as nmch as in the 

 basic ten years. In the basic ten-year period, the average acre 

 of oats ill Iowa sold for $8. We may therefore conclude that the 



*The chart printed in connection witli the chapter, "Pork Exports, 

 the Barometer of Corn Belt Prosperity," gives forty-four years of profit 

 and loss areas per acre of corn in the twelve north central states, the 

 method used being the ratio method as described in the above. 



