100 BULLETIN 1271, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The unit-requirement data can also be used by farmers in other areas 
operating under conditions similar to those prevailing in this area. 
The description of the farms studied and the history and description 
of the Windom area enable farmers located elsewhere to determine 
to what extent their conditions are sufficiently comparable to make 
the data applicable to their problems. 
The individual farmer must study the relative opportunities offered 
by all possible alternatives in order to determine that plan of organ- 
ization which promises the largest return to the resources at his 
command. Other factors than the securing of the highest returns 
from farming may affect the choice of farm enterprises. The 
farmer's likes and dislikes or the effect of changes in organization 
upon the farm as a home and other noneconomic factors may influ- 
ence his decisions. In any event the actual working out of the farm 
organization plans will serve both as a check upon what has been 
accomplished and as a guide to future possibilities. Knowing this, 
it is for the farmer to decide whether the increased returns that may 
be secured from changes in organization are sufficient to induce him 
to make the changes. 
The returns from any organization plan are calculated on the basis 
of probable future prices. Prices of all commodities are constantly 
shifting, sometimes erratically, sometimes in fairly definite cycles. 
These changes may be frequent and rapid, or they may be relatively 
few and gradual. There is a considerable tendency for the farmer to 
base his plans for the coming year on the prices received for his 
products during the present year. This practice always involves a 
large element of risk, because a high price for a given commodity one 
year may stimulate an overproduction of that commodity the 
following year so serious as to reduce its price and make its production 
highly unprofitable. At the present time the farmer can safely 
adjust his business in response to price changes only in so far as 
these changes appear to be due to relatively permanent changes in 
economic conditions. However, there are now a large number of 
both public and private agencies giving considerable attention to 
price forecasting. As these agencies collect information covering the 
factors that determine price and the farmer learns to interpret it or 
has it interpreted for him, it will be increasingly possible for him 
to use price forecasts in connection with the method of analysis 
outlined in this study. 
It is without the realm of this study to go into the question of 
price making or the possibility of artificial regulation of prices. 
However, it is suggested that the proper consideration of the problem 
of choice and adjustment of enterprises by fanners will lead to a 
more rapid and accurate adjustment of production to the ever- 
changing conditions of the market. This will mean more stability 
as between the relative prices of different agricultural products. The 
proper consideration ol the probable returns that may be secured 
from different types of farm organization plans may also result in a 
more rapid adjustment between agricultural production as a whole 
and production in other industries. The process of analysis outlined 
in tins study will help individual farmers decide whether the returns 
from farming are sufficient to keep them in the business; and, if so, 
what to produce and how to produce it. 
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