UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



JZ&T&U-1. 



BULLETIN No. 920 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management and 

 Farm Economics. 



H. C. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



December 30, 1920 



FARM PROFITS— FIGURES FROM THE SAME FARMS FOR A 



SERIES OF YEARS. 



Washington County, Ohio, 25 Farms, 1912-1918. 

 Clinton County, Ind., 100 Farms, 1910 and 1913-1918. 

 Dane County, Wis., 60 Farms, 1913-1917. 



By H. M. Dixon, Associate Farm Economist, and H. W. Hawthorne, Assistant 



Farm Economist. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Sources and character of data 3 



Summary 5 



The Ohio area 7 



Page. 



The Indiana area 22 



The Wisconsin area 41 



Good management increases profits 55 



INTRODUCTION. 



Are many farmers making large profits ? 



Are there many farmers who are making only a bare living? 



How much do farmers make ? 



Have farmers' profits been greater during the recent years of rela- 

 tively high prices for farm products than during former years of 

 lower prices ? 



These are live questions, which concern everyone, farmers and 

 city folk alike, and there are current many widely varying opinions 

 about them. This bulletin, presenting facts as determined by 

 repeated business analysis of groups of farms in three fairly distinct 

 agricultural areas, is designed to throw light on these and other 

 questions that arise in this connection. 



While the findings of this study will not justify making flat general- 

 izations as to what the profits of farming are for the country as a 

 whole, they should have weight in the consideration of the general 

 problem, since they represent the results of continuous studies in 

 farm profits covering a longer period of years than any other thus 



13648°— 20— Bull. 920 1 



