8 
BULLETIN 1188, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
to localize the surplus production in those areas where the cost on 
the farm is relatively low and where the cost of transportation to 
consuming centers is also relatively low. To be relatively profitable, 
therefore, the following conditions must usually obtain: (1) A low 
unit cost of production; (2) a freight rate which will leave an accept- 
able margin to growers at their shipping point. 
COST OF PRODUCTION. 
Low cost per bushel is the result of low cost per acre with ordinary 
yields, or with increasingly higher yields, as the cost per acre in- 
creases. The average yield, of potatoes in the United States is about 
100 bushels to the acre, but, as will be shown later, the growers of 
Aroostook County, Me., with costs per acre double those of most 
other areas, produce the crop at a cost per bushel as low as in most 
other areas, because their average yield per acre is double that of 
these other districts. 
TRANSPORTATION CHARGES. 
Without going into complete details with respect to the relation 
of transportation charges to farm prices for potatoes and their effect 
on localizing production in certain areas, it is obvious that the trans- 
portation charges, which are a product of the freight rate and the 
distance to the market,, are a limiting factor. Thus, with equal costs 
per bushel at the farm or shipping point, those areas nearest to 
market have a distinct advantage. The effect of transportation 
charges on the distribution of the crop is illustrated by the figures 
in Table 2. The shippers in Cadillac, Mich., are, for example, at a 
disadvantage in shipping to Chicago as compared with central Wis- 
consin shippers, but they have a distinct advantage in the Detroit 
and Pittsburgh markets. In 1920 and 1921 the Maine growers had 
a differential of 18.6 cents a bushel against them in selling in the 
New York market as compared with shippers around Rochester, 
N. Y., but had an advantage in the New England markets. Potato 
growers in the South overcome the disadvantage of the high trans- 
portation charges to northern consuming centers because thay can 
put their crop on the market at a high price compared with the 
stocks out of storage from the northern producing centers. 
Table 2. — Freight rates of potatoes per bushel in carload lots. 
Cadillac, Mich., to— 
Detroit 
Chicago 
Cincinnati 
Pittsburgh 
Waupaca, Wis., to— 
Chicago 
St. Louis 
Cincinnati 
Pittsburgh 
Freight rates 
per bushel. 
1919- 
1920 
Cents. 
13.8 
15.3 
17.1 
18.0 
10.2 
15.0 
15.9 
19.8 
1920- 
1921 
Dis- 
tance. 
Cents. 
19.5 
21.6 
24.0 
25.5 
15.0 
20.4 
21.3 
26.4 
Miles. 
200 
287 
446 
521 
221 
505 
519 
Presque Isle, Me., to — 
Boston , 
Providence 
New Haven 
New York City 
Rochester, N. Y., to New 
York City 
Freight rates 
per bushel. 
1919- 
1920 
Cents. 
18.9 
21.0 
22.5 
25.5 
1920- 
1921 
Cents. 
26.4 
29.4 
31.5 
35.7 
17.1 
Dis- 
tance. 
Miles. 
438 
483 
597 
673 
373 
