COSTS OF PRODUCTION OF SUGAR BEETS
Part II.—OH10
REPORT ON THE FARMERS’ COSTS OF PRODUCTION OF SUGAR
BEETS IN OHIO FOR THE YEARS OF 1921, 1922, AND 1923
HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATION
On December 19, 1922, two months after the tariff act of 1922
became effective, the Mountain States Beet Growers’ Association,
representing the sugar-beet producers of Colorado, Montana,
Nebraska, and Wyoming, made formal request to the Tariff Com-
mission for an investigation of the costs, returns, and economic con-
ditions In the sugar-beet industry. Their request was vigorously
supported by the sugar-beet producers of other States.
ecause of the significance of sugar-beet production in the sugar
industry of the United States, the commission, on August 7, 1923.
voted:
* * * that an investigation under the general powers of the commission is
hereby instituted on the cost of production of sugar beets; that the cooperation
of the Department of Agriculture in such investigation is invited; and that the
advisory board be directed to draft a plan for the conduct of the investigation, if
practicable, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture.
In accordance with this action the advisory board submitted plans
for the investigation which were approved by the commission on
August 14, 1923, and this report represents in part the results of that
investigation.
The direct field investigation of farm costs was begun on September
1, 1923, at Owosso, Mich., and was completed at Santa Ana, Calif.,
four months later, January 4, 1924. The investigation has required
about 4,200 days of man labor, 1,270 days of field work in collecting
the data from the farmers, and 2,930 days devoted to calculations
and tabulations. In all, 78 persons, excluding the farmers who gave
information on their costs and returns, have taken part in the inves-
tigation—20 in the field and 58 in the office. The 20 field agents
traveled a total of about 86,000 miles by train and in the course of the
investigation covered thoroughly by autombile the sugar-beet
producing districts in the nine States investicated.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SUGAR-BEET CROP AND THE CULTURAL OPERA-
TIONS EMPLOYED IN ITS PRODUCTION
The sugar-beet plant (Beta vulgaris or B. vulgaris) by its remark-
able organizing capacity takes from nature substances that would
otherwise be unused and by combining them creates the useful prod-
uct sugar. Producing and storing this valuable food, the sugar-heet
plant is the foundation upon which rests the whole beet-sugar indus-
try. The manufacturing processes—extracting, purifying, crystal-
izing, and refining—necessary in the preparation of sugar for the
