18 BULLETIN" 943, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



labor, rent, equipment, and overhead costs were comparatively high, 

 with a resultant cost of $47.84 per acre. 



In the winter-wheat areas the variation in cost per acre on farms 

 in the same county was due primarily to the same causes that affected 

 costs on the spring-wheat farms. Thus in Ford County three of the 

 four farms having a cost of $30 to $40 per acre were share-rented 

 farms on which good yields were obtained, making a high-rent charge 

 to the operator. The one farm with a cost of $30 to $35 per acre 

 in Pawnee County was a share-rented farm also with a high yield 

 Of McPherson County's five farms appearing in the two highest cost 

 groups three had abandoned acreage and the other two were share- 

 rented farms with good yields. The two farms with lowest acre 

 costs in Saline County, Mo., had comparatively low-labor costs and 

 exceptionally high credits for straw and pasture. The farms having 

 a cost of $40 and over per acre in the three Missouri counties had no 

 item of expense for abandoned acreage, but were universally high in 

 labor costs, and in some instances had high thrashing and rent costs; 

 the latter owing to high land values or very good yields of wheat. 

 In the Nebraska areas the variation in cost per acre was attributable 

 to the reasons mentioned above, the principal causes of variation 

 closely following those mentioned for the Missouri areas. 



In the three Missouri areas the prominence of the farms with 

 comparatively high acre costs is due to thorough land preparation, 

 good yields, and high land valuations. Likewise on the farms in 

 Saline County, Nebr., which are relatively small, much labor is 

 devoted to land preparation, good yields were obtained, causing a 

 fairly high thrashing charge per acre, and land valuations were 

 higher than in any other area visited except one. 



Thus it is evident that the acre cost of growing wheat is in no 

 way constant, but may vary as the quantities and values of the 

 various items of cost vary. The amount and the cost of labor devoted 

 to raising an acre of wheat may be influenced by many things, some 

 of which the farmer can not control, and in consequence the acre 

 cost may change from year to year. This is borne out by a study of 

 individual farm costs in each area. The amount of labor devoted 

 to seed-bed preparation was not uniform in any given locality. 

 This lack of uniformity was due to different practices followed on 

 individual farms and even on different fields on the same farm. 

 Soil conditions, weather conditions, available labor, distance from 

 market, etc., all have much to do with the hours devoted to raising 

 an acre of wheat. 



As an example of variation in practice it was not uncommon to 

 find farmers in certain winter-wheat areas who plowed a part of the 

 land, listed a part, and disk-drilled a part in cornstalk or grain stubble 

 land without further preparation. In some instances a part of the 



