44 
BULLETIN 760, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The same scale of prices was in force in the Oxnard area for the 
1916 crop, including the bonus of 50 cents a ton for the beets. 
In the Salinas area certain records were obtained from tenants who 
rented beet land from the sugar company. In 1916 these tenants re- 
ceived from $4.50 to $5 a ton for beets. The scale for the growers 
who did not rent sugar-company land started at $5.25 for beets test- 
ing 15 per cent sugar, with an addition of 25 cents per ton for each 
1 per cent above 15 per cent. 
It can be plainly seen that on account of the difference in amounts 
received per ton for the beets and the variation in yield that the 
receipts per acre would not be uniform for the three regions. The 
largest average price, $6.88 a ton, was received at Oxnard, the Salinas 
and Los Angeles growers getting a slightly lower price. By sub- 
tracting the cost of production from the receipts there is left a mar- 
gin of from slightly more than $10 to almost $21 an acre. (See 
Table XXVIII.) Figured on the ton basis, the net returns per ton 
from beets alone ranged from $1.12 at Oxnard to $1.32 at Salinas. 
In addition to this amount there is a benefit received from the beet 
tops, whether sold, fed, or plowed under, which brings the average 
net return up to from $12.99 to $23.41 per acre. 
Table XXVIII. — Average returns and margin above cost. 
District. 
Yield 
per 
Beet 
receipts 
per 
acre. 
Cost 
per acre 
of 
beets. 
Net 
returns 
per acre 
for beets 
alone. 
Net 
returns 
per acre 
including 
beet 
tops. 
Los Angeles 
Oxnard 
Salinas 
Tons. 
14.52 
9.53 
15.59 
$84.04 
65.56 
87.06 
167. 11 
54.88 
66.45 
§16. 93 
10.68 
20.61 
$19.68 
12.99 
23.41 
THE EFFECT OF SIZE OF BEET ACREAGE AND YIELD PER 
ACRE ON THE COST OF PRODUCTION. 
It has already been indicated that the yield of beets is one of the 
most important factors affecting the unit cost of production. There 
is also another factor which materially affects the cost of production, 
namely, the size of the beet acreage. 
To bring out the effect of these two factors, all the records were 
classified according to acreage in beets. The first group contained 
the farms producing 40 acres and under, the second those growing 
41 to 70 acres, and the third, those producing 71 acres and over. 
Each group was then subdivided into three classes according to 
whether the yield per acre was 10 tons or less, 11 to 15 tons, or 16 
tons or over. (See Table XXIX.) 
