20 BULLETIN 117, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



those which will meet the economic conditions, be selected. This is 

 a problem of great difficulty, for the reason that the conditions change 

 so rapidly from year to year that certain enterprises which may be 

 good at this particular time may be unfitted to the conditions five 

 years hence. 



To illustrate: Suppose the price paid by the factories for sugar 

 beets should decrease materially. This would be a serious blow to 

 the agricultural development of the entire region, as sugar beets con- 

 stitute the chief money crop. It would seem that special attention 

 should be given to the development of canning factories, fruit evap- 

 orators, and other similar agencies whereby crops suitable to inten- 

 sive cultivation can be grown annually without being subject to 

 heavy losses resulting from violent fluctuations in prices in the eastern 

 markets. 



When we consider the distance of this region from the great con- 

 suming centers, it is doubtful whether truck farming and certain 

 types of fruit growing should ever be undertaken here. Agricultural 

 areas developed at such high costs are under a severe handicap in 

 competing with cheaper lands equally productive that He close to the 

 great markets of this country. 



It would appear that the development of such types of farming in 

 such a region should be limited largely to supplying the local demand 

 for the products grown. With the immense areas of fertile soil that 

 are still farmed extensively close to our big cities, it would seem that 

 the time is not yet ripe for a highly intensive type of agriculture on 

 lands so far removed from those markets. 



SUMMARY. 



The results of the prehminary farm-management survey made in 

 the irrigated areas in the Utah Lake Valley near Provo and Spanish 

 Fork show — 



(1) That an intensive type of agriculture has been developed in certain areas that 

 have been under irrigation for a long period of years. This intensiveness is largely in 

 the form of sugar-beet growing. 



(2) The average labor income on 35 small farms with 16.5 acres in crops was $247; 

 on 30 general fruit and sugar-beet farms with 42 crop acres the labor income was $589 ; 

 and on 4 grain and live-stock farms with 74 crop acres the labor income was $620. 



(3) The profits received are largely influenced by the size of the farm business, 

 the type of farming followed, and the diversity of the income. Many farms are so 

 small in magnitude of business that the owner can not possibly make a comfortable 

 living without outside employment. Of the 54 farmers who had less than 40 acres, 

 only 2 men made over $1,000 labor income. More than 60 per cent of them made 

 less than $300. Of 25 small sugar-beet growers, only 1 made over $800 as a labor 

 income. 



(4) Sugar beets form 33.4 per cent of the total farm receipts on the 92 farms operated 

 by owners. They are the one crop on which the farmer depends for money to pay 

 taxes and living expenses. 



