4 BULLETIN 1198, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of labor and materials, are much more stable and lend themselves 
better to analytical studies. An accumulation of such data serves 
as a basis for the timely estimating of costs which can not be made 
with any degree of accuracy without the use of such items. A close 
estimate of the cost per acre may be made by applying current prices 
to the basic quantity requirements of labor and materials, and by 
the use of the current yield a cost per bushel may be obtained. Such 
information serves as a basis for the approximate determination of 
costs at the end of each crop year before the crop is marketed. 
Numerous basic cost data for the more important wheat areas are 
now available for such use. <A part of these data have been published, 
and it is the aim of the Department of Agriculture to make additional 
information available as it is collected, with the hope that in time a 
solid foundation of such basic material will be available for the timely 
Eons of costs in all of the principal wheat centers of the United 
tates. 
The present study of basic cost requirements, together with the 
acre and bushel costs, is for the crop year 1920. The data were 
obtained through personal visits to representative wheat growers in 
10 counties of 4 important winter-wheat States. (See Table 2). In 
selecting these counties an attempt was made to choose districts 
illustrating the physical and economic influences affecting the basic 
requirements and costs. In these counties from 50 to 85 per cent of 
the total crop area was devoted to winter wheat. © 
Wherever possible the items of expense have been expressed in 
terms of physical quantities such as hours of labor, quantities of seed, 
and twine. Since costs vary widely because of differences in yield 
and in the amounts and prices of labor and materials, special attention 
has been given throughout this bulletin to such variations. 
Items of cost have been considered in the following order: (1) 
Labor and power, which includes the direct man labor and horse and 
tractor power; (2) materials, including. seed wheat, binder twine, 
barnyard manure and straw, and commercial fertilizers; (3) other 
costs, including farm taxes and insurance, special crop insurance, 
use of tractor and other farm machinery, loss on abandoned wheat 
acreage, overhead and interest on investment. 
TABLE 2.—Acreage and production of winter wheat on farms studied, by counties, 1920.1 
| Volun- | Wheat | praie 
Wheat . 
State and county. Records. | . teer har- 5 
| Seeded | wheat. | vested. | ‘02- 
| 
Missouri: Number.| Acres. Busheis. 
Bike Countyesec = a2. ce -- = 4 Bee Ses siete 58 2, 388 28, 022 
Warroli@ounbyjem=as eae se se se eee ee ane 59 3, 009 54, 402 
Nebraska: 
GareCouniyiece. (yee set sede eet ela. Bee 46 2, 076 38, 231 
ORI? COTM. sao S SoS eeeeesondeoe ate se sacs aeeeee | 44 2,792 27, 891 
Cheyenne Countye*=.2--ss2. 2 eek. ee oe 41 8, 185 137, 441 
Kansas: 
pLhomas COnnUys = asses fone t= Ss on ete n et ce 43 11, 008 174, 411 
MemhersomiCountyasseen o2 50-6. se seeee teu ee 38 4,789 60, 982 
IBaWNCC COUN Es ie fea see csl- ow Siew se cies oleae 35 13, 073 139, 059 
Oklahoma: 
Garneld! County cree. snes oa 5 oS l= SE 60 7, 069 127, 560 
Woodward Counttynn--cos-2 -f-ne oe eee wae cee 43 7, 354 60, 338 
Dota eee eset See es eet gee ae on. At 467 61, 743 848, 337 
1 Similar data were secured in 1919 on 197 spring-wheat farms and on 284 farms in winter-wheat States 
and are published in U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 943, “Cost cf producing wheat.’’ 
