COSTS AXD FARM PRACTICES IX PRODUCING POTATOES. 7 
high when the price is low. The variations observed, however, are 
more generally in the direction of the price fluctuations than in the 
direction of the yield or the production fluctuations. The acre value 
for individual areas or individual farmers will increase or decrease 
in relation to the deviation from the United States yield. The price 
per bushel and the acre value for the United States have been gradu- 
ally increasing since 1896, and, of course, they assumed a much 
higher level during the World War period, due to the increase in the 
general price level. 
PRODUCTION, FARM PRICE PER BUSHEL. 
AND FARM VALUE PER ACRE OF POTATOES 
UNITED STATES 1896-1921 
DOLLA RS , CENTS 
20 
1 20 
TOTAL PRODUCTION (BUSHELS) 
FARM PRICE (PER BUSHEL) 
FARM VALUE OF CROP (PER ACRE) 
PRODUCTION 
MILLIONS 
300 
100 
50 
1S96 
1300 
1905 
1910 
1915 
1920 
Fig. 4.— The influence of changes in total production of potatoes on the farm price from year to year 
is marked. The farm value per acre of potatoes is further affected by the yields per acre. 
CONDITIONS PECULIAR TO SURPLUS PRODUCTION OF POTATOES. 
Potatoes are raised in every State, but there are only about six 
States in which potato growing is consistently profitable enough to 
encourage an annual surplus of significant proportions. Combina- 
tions of conditions prevail in these areas of surplus production which 
result in a cost per bushel, year after year, too low for other areas 
to meet successfully on any great quantity of potatoes. 
The fact that the annual crop of potatoes must be sold within the 
year, usually within nine months, and that in a good season the total 
production may easily be so large that it can be disposed of by 
growers only at a price which makes potatoes a comparatively cheap 
food, makes it relatively unprofitable, over most of the country, to 
grow more than local supplies, or a part of local supplies, and fends 
