368 
American Agriculturist, April 12,1924 
What Does It Cost to Grow Potatoes? 
An A. A. Wednesday Evening Radio Talk Broadcast From WEAF 
E VERYBODY is interested in the cost of 
growing potatoes. Through the northern 
half of our country the white potato, 
next to bread, is the greatest food staple 
that we have. It is served in some form, with 
every meal, in practically every restaurant and 
hotel. In a vast majority of homes it is sensed 
with the meals two and three tunes a day. This 
is an age of specialists and this is just as true of 
farming as of the professions and industries. The 
commercial production of potatoes is 
becoming highly specialized in several 
sections of the East. Soil, climate 
and geographical location all have 
their bearing in determining these 
special potato growing sections. New 
Jersey, Long Island and Aroostook 
County, Maine, are the three sections 
of the East where the crop is most 
highly specialized. New Jersey 
overlapping the early crop from the 
South has never made any effort to 
get the high-class trade. 
Probably there is no section of this 
country where the growing of pota¬ 
toes is more highly developed than on 
Long Island. New York State leads 
the country in production and one- 
fifth of the entire crop of the State 
is grown on a small area on Long 
Island. Here natural conditions of 
soil, climate, and location, combined 
with skilled growers, produce the 
highest quality potatoes that come 
to the New York market. Because 
of their quality, the Long Island 
potatoes always command a con¬ 
siderable premium over other pota¬ 
toes, and like all other high quality 
products, are fully as economical hi 
the end as the cheaper article. 
It is a beautiful and inspiring sight, 
which thousands of auto-tourists 
enjoy, to ride for miles through the 
large and level fields of potatoes in 
full bloom, over the splendid roads 
of New Jersey and out on Long Island. 
After the Long Islands, and throughout the 
winter, Maine potatoes dominate the market. 
These are second only to Long Islands in quality. 
They are grown by specialists in potato growing 
and under very favorable climatic conditions. In 
Aroostook County, Maine, potato growing is the, 
only source of income. For the past three seasons 
the growers have received less for their crop than 
it cost them to grow, consequently many of them 
are in serious financial straits. 
A third important source of supply of potatoes 
for the markets of New York and vicinity, are 
New York State potatoes. In the aggregate the 
amount of potatoes pro¬ 
duced up-State is large, 
but they are grown over a 
very widely setttered area 
under a great variety of soil, 
climatic and cultural condi¬ 
tions. They are grown, in 
the majority, in smal areas 
as a side line or less impor¬ 
tant branch of the farm 
enterprise and by men who 
would not be classed as 
potato specialists. 
Being produced and 
shipped in comparatively 
small quantities at widely 
scattered points about the 
State, it follows that there 
are no very well established 
grades for State potatoes, 
consequently the city 
dealer does not know what 
kind of a car of potatoes 
he will have when he has 
one shipped to him. This 
By H. R. TALMAGE 
lack of uniformity and standardization is prob¬ 
ably the chief reason why the State potatoes 
command a lower price than other potatoes on 
the markets. 
I will call the attention of my city friends to a 
practice which is unfair, both to them and to the 
grower of high grade potatoes. After the New 
Jersey crop, during the late summer and early 
fall, Long Island potatoes very largely, supply the 
New YMrk market. As soon as the Maine pota¬ 
toes come in, in quantities and are mature enough 
some unscrupulous dealers, both wholesale and 
retail, buy them and either mix them with the 
Long Islands or sell them as Long Islands without 
mixing. 
In either case the consumer is charged the 
price for the higher quality potato. Later in the 
season, as soon as State potatoes come in, they 
are often sold as Maine’s. That is the reason 
why, recently, you have been able to buy so- 
called Maine’s at the same price as State’s even 
though the State’s bring 50 to 75 cents less per 
bag than the Maine’s sell for on the wholesale 
market. 
To the farmers the cost of growing potatoes is 
of the utmost importance. If his costs are as 
much as he receives for his crop, he will have to 
quit the business, just the same as any manu¬ 
facturing concern would have to quit if their cost 
were as high as their selling price. 
In many or most of the essential elements, 
farming is like a manufacturing business. The 
land and buildings correspond to 
the factory building. The fertilizer 
and seed are placed in the ground as 
raw materials. To a great extent 
then, the crop is dependent upon 
Old Mother Nature but it is the 
farmers part to watch the develop¬ 
ment and growth of the crop, giving 
cultivation when needed, keeping 
the weeds from overcoming the crop, 
protecting it by sprays and poisons 
from the insects and diseases that 
are constant sources of danger. In 
several important respects farming 
differs from manufacturing. It is* 
usually carried on in much smaller 
units. In many cases the owner of 
the farm and his family perform all, 
or a large part of the labor. Perhaps 1 
most important of all, the farmer has 
no control whatever of the elements, 
frosts and heat, of drought and floods. 
On a large specialized potato farm 
on Long Island in 1923 the cost of 
the various items was as follows, to 
the nearest dollar; taxes and 6 per 
cent, on value of land per acre, $30; 
seed $39; use of horses and machin¬ 
ery, $17; man labor, $32; fertilizer, 
$35; interest, $7; spraying, cover crop, 
manure, hauling, $16; total cost one 
acre potatoes, $176. 
The crop yielded 300 bushel per 
acre so the cost to grow and deliver 
to the railroad was nearly 60c per 
bushel or $c per lb. 
On March 6, the chain stores in New York 
were retailing State potatoes at 5 pounds for 15c, 
3 cents per pound, or $1.80 per bushel. The 
farmer received 70c per bushel. The country 
shipper received 34c additional delivered in New 
YYrk. The city wholesaler received 36c additional 
delivered to retailer. The retailer received 40c 
additional, or he made 3c on a 15-pound package 
of potatoes. The farmer received 70c for the 
bushel of potatoes and it cost $1.10 to get it to the 
consumer. Probably no one connected with the 
production or distribution of this bushel of pota¬ 
toes was overpaid. Certainly the grower was not. 
Is this price of 3c per pound high? It does not 
seem so. The average per¬ 
son in the United States 
uses 3}/2 bushels per year or 
210 pounds and at 3c per 
pound this would be but 
$6.30 for a year’s supply of 
a staple vegetable. Scarcely 
any laborer in the city but 
could buy his year’s supply 
of potatoes. with the wages 
of one day and the mech¬ 
anics could buy their supply 
with a half day’s work. 
Farming is the most com¬ 
petitive large industry in 
the country to-day. Thou¬ 
sands of farmers are forced 
out of this occupation every 
year by the fierce competi¬ 
tion. There is scarcely a 
thing that the farmer buys 
that can be bought with as 
little labor, relatively, as 
the city consumer pays for 
his potatoes. 
“Probably there is no section of this country where the growing of potatoes is more highly developed 
than on Long Island.” 
To Plant or Not To Plant 
TUTR. TALMAGE, who wrote the article on this page and which 
■*■*■*■ he broadcast from radio station WEAF, is one of Long 
Island’s best known potato-growers. His farm is located in the 
famous Riverhead section of Suffolk County. Mr. Talmage has 
been keeping cost accounts of his potato crops for many years and 
he knows whereof he speaks when it comes to discussing the cost of 
producing potatoes. He is one of a comparative few. There are 
literally thousands of farmers who annually plant, cultivate and 
harvest, not knowing what it costs, taking what they can get or what 
is offered them for their produce. Were they to keep cost accounts, 
there is no question but what many would discontinue some part of 
their farm business, for very often one enterprise helps along a 
weaker one. Moreover, when farmers in general are able to point 
to their books and say, “it cost us so and so much to produce this 
product,” they have gone a long way toward placing themselves in a 
position to get something nearer the cost of production. It holds 
just as true with milk as it does with potatoes. Comparatively few 
dairymen actually know what it costs them to produce a hundred 
pounds of milk, or even know what each cow in their herd averages 
per year. If they did, it is safe to say that a lot more cows would be 
sent to the butcher. 
In broadcasting this talk over WEAF, Mr. Talmage brings a 
message to consumers as well as producers. He gives some facts that 
few city folks are acquainted with. He tells just how much spread 
there exists to-day in the handling of potatoes. If you like this talk 
and want more like it, write and tells us so. The only way we have 
of knowing what you want or whether you wish these radio talks 
continued, is to have you write us.— THE EDITORS. 
