UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1188 
Washington, D. C. 
April 9, 1924 
COSTS AND FARM PRACTICES IN PRODUCING POTATOES 
on 461 Farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan 
New York, and Maine for the Crop Year, 1919 
By 
W. C. FUNK, Assistant Farm Economist 
Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
Geographic Distribution of Potato Production .... 2 
Production and Price Trends 5 
Conditions Peculiar to Surplus Production of Potatoes 7 
Costs and Practices in 1919 on Specific Farms ... 9 
Labor and Material Used per Acre 12 
Cost of Production 13 
Variation in Cost per Acre 14 
Variation in Cost per Bushel 15 
Relation of Yield to Cost per Bushel IS 
Page 
Analysis of Items of Cost- 
Labor 16 
Materials 33 
Use of Land 35 
Machinery 35 
Orerhead 36 
Other Costs 36 
Tenure 37 
Relation of Costs and Prices, 1913-1921 37 
WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1924 
