UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 943 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 

 and Farm Economics 



H. C. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



April 30, 1921 



COST OF PRODUCING WHEAT. 



By M. R. Cooper and R. S. Washburn, Assistant Farm Economists. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



A problem often misunderstood 1 



Application of cost data to farm organization . 3 



Summary of results 3 



Basic factors and cost estimates 4 



Method, scope, and purpose of present study. 4 



Geography of production 6 



Comparative wheat yields 11 



Requirements of production 12 



Summary of costs, by districts 13 



Range in cost per acre, by counties 16 



Net cost per busheL 21 



Analysis of items of cost 25 



Array of farms according to cost per bushel, 



by counties 47 



Cumulative per cent of acreage grown at 



various costs per bushel 49 



Cumulative per cent of total production 51 



Individual costs per acre 54 



A PROBLEM OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD. 



"Cost of production" is a term which has been much used in 

 recent years, often, it is believed, without a full comprehension of its 

 significance. Some who had at first assumed that there was such a 

 thing as one definite and specific cost figure for each of the staple 

 farm products have become somewhat confused upon learning of 

 the wide range of costs on different farms, and may have come even 

 to doubt the utility of cost studies. It is rather difficult to arrive 

 at a figure which properly represents the cost of producing wheat, 

 or any other product, even on a given farm; furthermore, it is no 

 simple matter to interpret properly the results. Because a task is 

 difficult, however, is no reason for giving it up when the end in 

 view is so important as in this case. 



Note. — Acknowledgment is due to Messrs. M. A. Crosby and G. H. Miller, of the 

 Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, for assistance in collecting the data which are presented in this bulletin. 

 Acknowledgment is also due Miss Catherine R. Hawley, of the Office of Farm Man- 

 agement and Farm Economics, for excellent work in supervising the tabulation of 

 the data which are used as a basis for this discussion. Thanks are extended to the 

 numerous farmers who so willingly furnished information with reference to the cost 

 of wheat production; also to the county agents and business men of the respective 

 districts who so cordially assisted the enumerators in their work. 



26218°— 21— Bull. 943 1 



