UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
r'i^u 
BULLETIN No. 943 
Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 
and Farm Economics 
H. C. TAYLOR, Chief 
^\J^'^^U 
Washington, D. C. 
April 30, 1921 
COST OF PRODUCING WHEAT. 
By M. R. Cooper and R. S. Washburn, Assistant Farm Economists. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
A problem often misunderstood 1 
Application of cost data to farm organization . 3 
Simimary of results 3 
Basic factors and cost estimates 4 
Method, scope, and purpose of present study. 4 
Geography of production 6 
Comparative wheat yields 11 
Reqmrements of production 12 
Summary of costs, by districts 13 
Range in cost per acre, by counties 16 
Net cost per bushel 21 
Analysis of items of cost 25 
Array of farms according to cost per bushel, 
by coimties 47 
Cumulative per cent of acreage grown at 
various costs per bushel 49 
Cumulative per cent of total production 51 
Individual costs per acre 54 
A PROBLEM OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD. 
''Cost of production" is a term which has been much used in 
recent years, often, it is beheved, without a full comprehension of its 
significance. Some who had at first assumed that there was such a 
thing as one definite and specific cost figure for each of the staple 
farm products have become somewhat confused upon learning of 
the wide range of costs on different farms, and may have come even 
to doubt the utility of cost studies. It is rather difficult to arrive 
at a figure which properly represents the cost of producing wheat, 
or any other product, even on a given farm; furthermore, it is no 
simple matter to interpret properly the results. Because a task is 
difficult, however, is no reason for giving it up when the end in 
view is so important as in this case. 
Note. — Acknowledgment is due to Messrs. M. A. Crosby and G. H. Miller, of the 
Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics, United States Department of 
Agriculture, for assistance in collecting the data which are presented in this bulletin. 
Acknowledgment is also due Miss Catherine R. Hawley, of the Office of Farm Man- 
agement and Farm Economics, for excellent work in supervising the tabulation of 
the data which are used as a basis for this discussion. Thanks are extended to the 
numerous farmers who so willingly furnished information with reference to the cost 
of wheat production; also to the county agents and business men of the respective 
districts who so cordially assisted the enumerators in their work. 
26218°— 21— Bull. 943 1 
