110 



THE BUSINESS OF AGRICULTURE 



corn at 70 cents a bushel in Panajachel, any hill 

 cornfield that yielded as little as 12 bushels of corn, 

 and a few beans and squash, paid its cost. In the 

 delta, only 9 bushels per acre were needed. Data 

 on yields make it clear that from the point of 

 view of the individual farmer, and of the com- 

 munity as a whole, mUpa was in 1936 — and is in 

 general — a paying matter. This does not take 

 into account the value of the land, however. If 

 hill land is rented at the usual rate of $1.41 the 

 total cost comes to just $10, and a yield of 14 

 bushels of corn is needed to break even. This is a 

 safe chance. If the contract calls for payment of 

 half the crop (of which there were no cases in 

 1936) the share cropper should still do a little 

 better than break even. If it requires the digging 

 of holes for the planting of coffee, the farmer must 

 harvest some 18 bushels of corn to break even; 

 and this becomes doubtful. In 1937 some Indians 

 contracted (and others refused) to plant coffee in 

 the cornfield in exchange for the use of the field 

 for milpa for the 2 or 3 years while the bushes 

 were small. The value of the labor paid for rent 

 under such an arrangement comes to about $9.37. 

 If the farmer can plant com for but 2 years, he 

 again needs to harvest about 18 bushels a year, 

 but if he can plant for 3 years, he need harvest but 

 16 or 17 bushels to break even. Such deals are not 

 very promising. In the case of rental of delta 

 cornfield for half the crop, the cost of labor rises 

 to $9.18. This is not serious, for the share cropper 

 still breaks even if he harvests 13 bushels — 

 virtually a certainty in the delta. Thus, even 

 when rent must be paid, it usually pays to grow 

 corn in Panajachel. 



While there is no doubt that it pays to grow 

 corn in the delta, it will be seen below that other 

 crops pay even better, both from the point of 

 view of furnishing the owner with more employ- 

 ment and from the point of view of net profit. 

 It will become apparent that if all delta truck 

 lands were occupied with corn from May to De- 

 cember, the Indian community as a whole would 

 be forced into idleness and its income would be 

 tremendously reduced. The total amount of 

 land available is too small to permit the use as 

 cornfield of a large proportion of delta land. 



tablOn crops 



It is necessarily difficult to calculate the profits 

 from the complicated combinations of truck crops. 



ONIONS 



Onions are both the most complicated and the 

 most important. Table 28 summarizes the costs 

 involved, separately for seedlings, mature onions, 

 and onion seed, all of which have their prices. 

 The matter is complicated further because of 

 differing practices. It is seen that the producer 

 does best if he produces bis own seed for planting, 

 and next best if he at least grows his own seedlings 

 for transplanting. This is because there is some 

 net profit at each stage. 



There is probably considerably more variation 

 in time required in truck farming than in the 

 milpa; yet even here the work is pretty well 

 standardized. The figures given in the tables on 

 truck farming, based largely on the report to the 

 President (Appendix 1), with corrections, represent 

 the normal time required with the error in no case 

 more than 10 percent. In some cases, however, 

 they do not give a good picture of the kind of 

 labor involved. For example, the great labor 

 required to transplant onions is very often done 

 by women who can do the work as well as men 

 but whose time is usually considered only half as 

 valuable. Women also do considerable watering; 

 and boys and girls help. The labor required for 

 onions, which accounts for the bulk of the cost, is 

 summarized in table 29. The total includes the 

 entire process of growing a cuerda (or acre) of 

 onions, from seed to seed, including making the 



Table 28. — Cost of growing onion products (per acre) 



1 Item 1, plus 8 times item 2 of table 29, plus H of total of table 30, times 

 16?4 cents. 



' Total of table 29, leaving out item 4, plus Ma of total of table 30, times 

 16M cents. 



' Total of table 30, plus Hs of that total, times 16M cents. 



• Item 1 plus 8 times item 2 (except last part) of table 29, times 16M cents. 

 ' Total of table 29 leaving out item 4, times 16H cents. 



• Total of table 30 times 16'i cents. 



' Total of items 1, 3, and the last part of item 2 of table 29. times 16?i cents. 

 ' Total of items 1, 3, and the last part of item 2 of table 29, plus total of table 

 30 minus first Item times 16H cents. 



