UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



s&F^rL. 



I BULLETIN No. 518 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



W. J. Spillman, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



March 17, 1917 



THE COST OF PRODUCING APPLES IN HOOD 

 RIVER VALLEY. 1 



A Detailed Study, Made in 1915, of the Current-Cost Factors Involved in the 

 Maintenance of Orchards and the Handling of the Crop on 54 Farms. 



By S. M. Thomson, Scientific Assistant, and G. H. Millek, Assistant 



Agriculturist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Facts brought out 2 



Conclusions 4 



The Hood River Valley 5 



Farm organization 12 



The orchards 15 



Marketing and prices received 17 



Page. 



Orchard management ' 18 



Maintenance labor 19 



Handling crop 40 



Total labor costs 47 



Material and fixed costs 48 



Total costs 50 



During the summer of 1915 an investigation was conducted with 

 reference to the factors entering into the annual cost of producing 

 apples in the Hood River Valley of Oregon (see fig. 1) up to the 

 point of delivery at the shipping station. On account of orchards 

 being of varying ages, and operated in some instances by absentee 

 owners, it was difficult in many cases to secure accurate data. 



However, 54 complete and detailed records of orchards were se- 

 cured. All these were obtained from growers who supervised their 

 own orchards and who were able and willing to give complete infor- 

 mation. 



The purpose of this investigation was not only to arrive at the 

 annual cost of production, but to determine the economic status of 



1 This is the third of a series of bulletins on the cost of apple production. Department 

 Bulletin No. 446, " The Cost of Producing Apples in Wenatchee Valley, Washington," and 

 Department Bulletin No. 500, "The Cost of Producing Apples in Western Colorado," 

 have already been published. 



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

 gations 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. 



72668° — Bull. 518 — 17- 



