2 BULLETIN 1338, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The purpose of this bulletin is to place before its readers, in so far 
as the data will permit, the significance of the family living from the 
farm: Its value in relation to the cost of living of farm families and 
to the farm receipts, the farm income, the family income, and the 
labor income; 1 its importance in comparison with the cash returns 
from the farm business in times of agricultural prosperity and 
depression; its comparative importance with farms and families of 
different sizes; the farmer's recognition of its significance in evaluat- 
ing his labor; and the relative importance of the items that make up 
the family living from the farm. 
The family living from the farm lends safety and stability to the 
farm business and to farm life. It enables the farmer to reduce 
materially the cash cost of living and to tide over lean years and 
hard times that would be ruinous if he had to buy all the living for 
himself and family on the market. Were it necessary to buy all of 
2.074 FAMILIES 950 FAMILIES 
5 STATES. 1919-23 14 STATES. 1913-14 
DOLLARS DOLLARS 
1.000 1,000 
7.738 FAMILIES 
21 STATES. 1918-22 
DOLLARS 
1.000 2.000 1,000 
COST 0F LIVING OF 
FARM FAMILIES 
COST- OF FOOD, HOUSE 
RENT AND FUEL 
VALUE OF THE FAMILY 
LIVING FROM THE FARM 
i 
i 
FAMILY INCOME 
LABOR INCOME 
i 
Fig. 1.— The value of the family living from the farm was 38 per cent of the cost of living of 2,074 farm 
families and 66 per cent of the cost of food, house rent, and fuel; it was about 12 per cent as much as the 
farm receipts for 7,738 farms, 29 per cent as much as the farm income, and 4.8 times as much as the 
labor income 
the family living furnished by the farm at city retail prices the cost 
would be fully twice the evaluation used in this bulletin, which is at 
farm prices. In a study of the family living from the farm of 28 
farm families in Scioto County, Ohio, in 1922, the value at city 
retail prices amounted to 208 per cent of that at farm prices. 
Important as the family living from the farm is, it should not be 
inferred that this living is obtained entirely free of cost to the farmer. 
The direct money cost for some of the items may be little, but the 
production of the several items represents labor, capital, and some- 
times cash outlay for materials. Much of the labor, however, is 
performed as an insignificant part of the main labor of the farm 
business, at times when the work of the main business is not urgent, 
and often by the wife and children. Much of the capital employed 
in the production of the food items of the family living from the farm 
is necessary for the farm business and is at hand, and the materials 
1 For definition of these and other terms used in this bulletin see pp. 13 and 14. 
