such as opportunity returns to labor. A procedure was developed for accom- 

 plishing this task. 5/ In the procedure , returns attributable to flue-cured 

 tobacco programs are expressed as influences on the variables affecting in- 

 come from flue-cured tobacco production. 



STUDY AREAS 



The two regions selected for this study are the Piedmont of south central 

 Virginia, where flue-cured tobacco type 11 is produced, and the Coastal Plains 

 of east central North Carolina, where a lighter bodied type 12 tobacco is 

 grown. Historically, flue-cured tobacco production in both regions has been 

 the primary source of farm income. Other important farm enterprises are 

 cotton, peanuts, and corn production in the Coastal Plains and small grain and 

 livestock production in the Piedmont. Each region has share tenants and share* 

 croppers, but the multiple cropper unit farm is more prominent in the Coastal 

 Plains and the share tenant and single cropper unit farm is more characteris- 

 tic of the Piedmont. 6/ Income from off- farm jobs has not provided an 

 appreciable supplement to farm income in either region. 



ESTIMATES OF LAND AND LABOR RETURNS 



Sources of Data 



Farm management surveys were the major source of data for this analysis. 

 Two types of studies were particularly applicable: (1) tobacco enterprise 

 studies, and (2) tobacco farm studies. The enterprise studies provided 

 estimates of costs and returns for an acre of tobacco without regard to share 

 agreements. The tobacco farm studies provided information on share agree- 

 ments and costs and returns for the whole farm, but did not indicate costs 

 and returns for the tobacco enterprise only. Data on share agreements were 

 obtained primarily from the tobacco farm studies. These data were then 

 applied to the enterprise budgets. This resulted in two sets of estimates 

 of land and labor returns in flue-cured tobacco production: (1) those from 

 enterprise budgets, and (2) those from whole farm budgets. 



Data on whole farm and enterprise budgets were obtained from 13 studies 

 and many supplementary sources. Estimates of land «nd labor returns were 

 obtained for 1922, 1936, 1949, and 1960 for the Piedmont area and for 1925- 

 28, 1934, 1947-49, and 1960 for the Coastal Plainp area. Data from enter- 

 prise budgets were available for each of these eight study periods, but 

 data from whole farm budgets were available for only five of the periods-- 

 three for Virginia and two for North Carolina. 



5/ For details of this procedure, see Hedrick, James Lupton, Measurement 

 and Explanation of Factor Returns Under the Flue-Cured Tobacco Program. Ph.D. 

 Thesis, N.C. State University at Raleigh, 1967. 



6/ Multiple cropper units are operated by two or more croppers; single 

 cropper units are operated by one cropper. 



