UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1400 
Washington, D. C. 
April, 1926 
FACTORS AFFECTING FARMERS' EARNINGS IN SOUTHEASTERN 
PENNSYLVANIA 
By Mordecai Ezekiel, Agricultural Economist, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Basis for the conclusions 1 
Description of area 2 
Economic conditions in 1922-23 4 
Crop yields and prices 5 
Livestock and livestock product prices 6 
Prices of expense items 6 
Relation of 1922 to future conditions 7 
Farm organization in the area 7 
Cropping system 7 
Livestock enterprises 11 
Sources of income 12 
Items of expense 15 
Financial results in 1922-23.. 17 
Factors affecting farmers' earnings in Chester 
County in 1922-23 20 
Selection and combination of the enter- 
prises 20 
Page 
Factors affecting farmers' earnings in Chester 
County in 1922-23— Contd. 
Size of the farm business 20 
Efficiency of operation 22 
Relation of 1922-23 prices to factors deter- 
mining farmers' earnings _. 25 
Factors which affect returns from the dairy 
enterprise 25 
Price of milk 26 
Feed cost of milk 29 
Summary 34 
Place of the mushroom enterprise on dairy farms 35 
Summary 39 
Methods of measuring complex factors 39 
Charge for use of land 39 
Factors affecting earnings on all farms 54 
Factors affecting earnings on dairy farms.. 57 
The study of farm organization and practice presented in this 
bulletin was undertaken, (1) to investigate the ways in which dairy 
farmers of the Piedmont Plateau region of the Atlantic coast were 
adapting their farm operations to the changed conditions following 
the World War period, and (2) to study the methods of organizing 
and operating their farms which make for greatest profits under 
these new conditions. 
This bulletin is concerned primarily with the kind of farming 
which was most profitable during the year of the survey, and the 
kind which is likely to be most profitable in the future. The de- 
scription of the changes in farming from pre-war to postwar con- 
ditions will be presented in a separate report. 
BASIS FOR THE CONCLUSIONS 
The southeastern portion of Chester County, Pa., was selected as 
the area in which to make the detailed farm study. During the 
summer of 1923 records for 422 farms were collected by the survey 
method, providing details of the farm operations and the financial 
records of the farms for the year April 1, 1922, to March 31, 1923. 
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