FARM MANAGEMEKT IN LENAWEE COUNTY, MICH, 35 



on the investment in each case the owners are left an average labor 

 income of $210, the renters $548. This shows that under current 

 conditions it is still much more desirable to rent than to buy until the 

 capital available for mvestment has reached $2,000 or more. 



In the third class, the operator having capital ranging from $2,001 

 to $3,000, there were 5 OAvners and 23 tenants. The average area of 

 the owner-farms was still small, being only 38 acres, whereas the 

 average area of the farms operated by renters was 182 acres. A com- 

 parison of incomes shows still greater differences. The owners made 

 an average total farm income of $375, as compared with $971 made 

 by the tenants, and an average labor income of $244 as compared 

 with $852 made by the tenants. 



In the fourth division, those having investments of $3,001 to 

 $5,000, there are only 5 tenants as compared with 24 owners, and in 

 the next class, with investments of $5,001 to $7,000,' only 2 renters 

 were fomid, as compared with 34 owners. No renters were found 

 with an operating capital of more than $7,000. 



The average farm income for five tenants in the group with invest- 

 ments of from $3,001 to $5,000 was $1,266, and that of the two 

 tenants in the group with investments from $5,001 to $7,000 was 

 $1,648. It will be noted that the average farm income of the owners 

 .does not approach these amounts mitil the group is reached in 

 which the owners have investments ranging from $17,001 to $25,000, 

 and farms average 171 acres in area, or approximately the area of 

 the larger rented farms. 



Farm management surveys have, in general, shown that just as 

 soon as the tenant farmers have accumulated sufficient capital to 

 enable them to make a first payment on a farm of sufficient size to 

 permit a satisfactory standard of living, the great majority of them 

 pass over into the owner class. In Table XVII it is seen that when 

 the average tenant in the region here studied has saved about $5,000, 

 thus becoming able to possess a farm which will produce a farm 

 income of about $400, he prefers to become an owner, despite the 

 fact that as a tenant he could have an income practically three times 

 as great. In this area no farmer remained a tenant after he had 

 accumulated more than $7,000 capital. 



There are two general reasons for this. In the first place, the ade- 

 quate utilization by the tenant of a large operating capital requires 

 a very large area of land, in many cases necessitating a magnitude of 

 business that is beyond the managerial ability of the average indi- 

 vidual. The table indicates, however, that the man of exceptional 

 ability who can manage a large property with a high degree of effi- 

 ciency could continue to do better financially as a tenant than as an 

 owner, because of the greatly increased acreage which his capital 

 would enable him to utilize. 



