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. 
CONT 
P3ge. 
1 
ENTS. 
Relation of yield to cost per bushel. 
Analysis of items of cost — 
Labor 
Page. 
15 
1. 2 
5 
16 
of 
Materials 
33 
7 
Use of land 
35 
9 
Machinery 
35 
12 
Overhead 
36 
13 
Other costs 
36 
14 
Tenure 
37 
15 
Relation of costs and prices, 1913-1921 
37 
Introduction .-. 
Geographic distribution of potato production. 
Production and price trends 
Conditions peculiar to surplus production of 
potatoes 
Costs and practices in 1919 on specific farms . 
Labor and material used per acre 
Cost of production 
Variation in eostper acre 
Variation in cost per bushel 
INTRODUCTION. 
This bulletin presents data on costs and farm practices in the pro- 
duction of potatoes in nine surplus-producing areas in Maine, New 
York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; the relation of produc- 
tion in these areas to the production of the entire country; and the 
trends of production, prices, and costs for the past quarter century. 
Over a series of years, considerable variations exist in acreage, 
yield, prices, and production costs, and a knowledge of the variations 
which have occurred in these factors and trends at the time the 
investigation was made should enable the individual grower to apply 
more intelligently the information contained herein to his own con- 
ditions. 
Good business management on the part of the producer involves 
not only a thorough understanding of production costs and practices, 
but also an understanding of the forces and conditions governing 
the market. 
56856°— 24 1 
