UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 636 



j&f'&j-u 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 

 W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief 



S&JT$Lru 



Washington, D. C. 



May 10, 1918 



COST OF PRODUCTION OF APPLES IN THE PAY. 

 ETTE VALLEY, IDAHO. 



A detailed study of the current cost factors involved in the maintenance of orchards and the handling 

 of the crop on 38 representative bearing orchards, Payette district in western Idaho. 



By S. M. Thomson, Scientific Assistant, and G. H. Miller, Assistant Agriculturist. 



CONTENTS. 



Summary of results 1 



Location and extent of district studied 3 



History and development 3 



Conditions 6 



Farm organization 8 



Farm investments 10 



Orchards '. 11 



Yields 13 



Markets and prices 14 



Fage. 



Orchard management 14 



Handling the crop 25 



Packing-house labor 27 



Culls and cider apples 23 



Total labor costs 30 



Material and fixed costs 31 



Summary of all costs considered 33 



Factors affecting the annual cost of produc- 

 tion 34 



The cost studies upon which this bulletin is based were made during 

 the year 1915 in an intensive commercial apple district in the vicinity 

 of Payette, Idaho (see Fig. 1). The number of commercial apple 

 orchards of bearing age in this region was very limited, so that but 

 38 detailed and accurate records could be obtained. These are 

 typical of the region, however, and present data which fairly illustrate 

 apple-growing conditions in this region. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 



Following is a brief resume of the more important averages brought 

 out by this study : 



Size of 38 farms studied, 53.39 acres. 



Size of bearing apple orchard, 11.33 acres. 



Investment per farm, $20,689.62. 



Investment per acre of bearing apples, $613.16. 



Trees per acre, 63.34. 



Annual yield per acre, 337 boxes. 



Net labor costs, $103.40 per acre, $0.3068 per box (43.14 per cent of total annual net 

 cost of production) . • 



All other costs, $136.25 per acre, $0.4043 per box (56.86 per cent of total annual net 

 cost of production). 



Total annual net cost of production, $0.7111 per box. 



Note.— Acknowledgment is due to the Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations of the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry for material assistance in the preparation of this bulletin; also to Mr. J. 

 Clifford Folger, who aided in securing the necessary data. 

 19461°— 18— Bull. 636—1 



