FARM MANAGEMENT OX IRRIGATED FARMS 
63 
advance for most, crops. Much of the guess over probable prices 
will be removed by a study of price trends and outlook reports for 
each crop, This farmer and others in the Yakima Valley will be 
assisted in planning their farm organization by a careful study of 
the factors of production, as outlined in this bulletin. 
Had the operator of this farm carefully considered in advance the 
possibility for economical potato production and efficient market- 
ing, his results from farming in 1921 and 1922 would probably have 
been very different. By applying 1922 local prices to the material 
and labor requirements for potatoes, he would have discovered that 
the total extra material and labor costs for producing and marketing 
potatoes would amount to S7.05 per ton for the standard conditions 
and S8.56 per ton for conditions on his farm as illustrated in Table 
27. This production handicap of SI. 51 per ton for extra labor and 
materials alone would immediately suggest the need of closely ana- 
lyzing the probable returns from potatoes and crops which could be 
substituted for a part of the potato acreage. It has been assumed, 
in making this calculation, that the operator and his family did all 
the work on potatoes except picking, hauling to cellar, sorting in 
cellar, and hauling to market. 
Table 27. — Potatoes: Cost of extra labor and material needed for production under 
standard conditions and under conditions existing on Farm No. 7, Yakima 
County, 1922 
Item 
Extra labor and 
material costs for 
potatoes 
Under 
standard 
condi- 
tions 
Under 
condi- 
tions on 
Farm 
Xo.7 
Total potato yield per acre Ton 
Culls Per cent. 
10 
Marketable yield per acre 
Ton 
Dollar 
...do 
---do 
__-do 
8.1 
5 
Extra material costs per acre: 
Seeds, 900 lbs. at $0.02. 
Sacks, 175 for 9-ton vield at SO 03 ... . -_- . 
18.00 
14.00 
1.40 
18.00 
8 90 
Twine, 1.4 lbs. for 9-*t on yield, at $1 
0.90 
Total 
33. 40 
27 80 
-.-do 
...do 
...do 
Extra labor costs peracrp: 
Picking, 26 hours for 9 tons, at $0.30 - -. 
7.80 
0.90 
9.00 
6.00 
5 04 
Haul to cellar, 3 hrs. 9 tons, at $0.30 
Sort in cellar, at $1 per ton 
0.60 
5 60 
Haul to market, at $0.75 per ton ... ._.--- .. 
...do 
3 75 
._ do 
Total. 
23 70 
14 99 
do 
57.10 
7.05 
42 79 
do 
8 56 
_ do 
Other costs, per acre: 
Inrcrest on land, $250 at 6 per cent ._ 
15.00 
7.00 
1.00 
14.70 
10.12 
3.00 
15.00 
Taxes, realestate ._ . 
,. do 
7 00 
Taxes, water. .... 
do . 
1 00 
Family labor, 49 hours, at $0.30 l 
do._. .. 
14 70 
Horse labor, 68 hours, at $0.15! 
Depreciation and interest on machinery ^___ 
...do 
...do 
10.12 
3.00 
Total other costs, per acre 
do 
50.82 
6.28 
50 82 
Total other costs, per ton 
...do 
10.16 
Total extra material and labor costs per ton . 
do 
7.05 
6.28 
8.56 
Total other material and labor costs per ton 
...do 
10.16 
Total, or price per ton needed to pay for above costs at the different 
yields 
do 
13.33 
^ - 
1 Man and horse labor; total for operations (except hauling to cellar) as given in Figure 12. 
2 The cost of machinery was not determined in this study. The machinery cost used in this illustra- 
tion wns obtained by charging 10 percent for depreciation and 8 per cent for interest on the average value 
of machinery for the group of medium-size- farms in 1922, Table 9, and dividing the total by the average 
number of crop acres in the farm. 
